The Tamesis
When you think of Corsica, you probably picture Porto Cervo’s glorious marina, home to gorgeous megayachts and designer boutiques, which has earned it the reputation of the French island of Saint-Tropez. Or the charming five-star hotels clustered around the northwest port town of Calvi, and perhaps its four-mile beach, a crescent of powdery white sand with a historic castle perched on a rocky outcrop at the end. Or, if you’ve been here before, it might be the smell of maqui trees that comes to mind: the herbaceous aroma of the island’s undergrowth—honeysuckle, lavender, myrtle and mint—hanging on the salty air. The island’s most famous son, Napoleon Bonaparte, who was born and raised in the then sleepy fishing town of Ajaccio, once said of the place: “Everything is better there, even the smell of the ground. I can tell it when I close my eyes.”
When I went in early October, I didn’t really have much in mind. A few months ago I read bombshell, A novel set in Corsica in the 1990s made the place sound like a fever dream; when I first decided to visit, I reasoned that maybe after a week there I would feel the same way about it that Napoleon once did. Although I had been to Corsica once as a teenager, my memory of it was a bit hazy, and in fact, I had no idea what to expect.
But I’d heard wonderful things about the corner of the island I was headed to: the stretch of coastline along Corsica’s southernmost tip, from the idyllic medieval Upperville Bonifacio perches precariously on the edge of dramatic limestone cliffs, down to the shallow turquoise waters of Piantarella Bay, where picturesque beaches could be mistaken for those of a Caribbean island.
what do i have return However, I’m told this particular area is heavily guarded by locals and (mainly French) long-term vacationers, most of whom come to the area for at least a month every summer from Paris or one of the other major Gallic cities. In fact, more than one person whispered: “It’s one of France’s best-kept secrets.”
I don’t necessarily want to blow up the aforementioned vacationer location, but I do want to learn more. So a few friends and I headed to Domaine de Spérone, a massive 120-hectare private estate with holiday homes, restaurants and a world-class golf course, to find out. To do this, I also made sure to enlist the help of a team I could trust who really knew what was going on: in this case, Le Collectionist, a design-forward villa rental platform known for its rigorous selection process—only about 3% of homes inspected by its team are accepted into collections—and its emphasis on serving the truly curious traveler, such as a dedicated concierge for each booking to help craft a personalized itinerary.
