50 Fun Facts About Corsica

Corsica ranks where in size among the islands of the Mediterranean?

Only Sicily, Sardinia and Cyprus are larger. Two-thirds of the island is a single mountain chain, hence its nickname 'mountain in the sea'.

Which city is the regional capital of Corsica?

Bastia, in the north, is the island's second-largest town and its busiest ferry port.

Which future emperor was born in Corsica's capital in 1769?

He was born just one year after Genoa ceded the island to France; his birthplace, Maison Bonaparte, is now a museum.

Which republic ruled Corsica from 1284 until the island broke away in 1755?

Genoese rule began after the naval Battle of Meloria in 1284 ended Pisan control of the island.

Which island lies immediately south of Corsica, across the Strait of Bonifacio?

The strait is only about 11 km wide at its narrowest point, and Sardinia was joined to Corsica for much of the Pleistocene.

What is the highest peak on Corsica?

It rises to 2,706 metres and is one of the most prominent peaks in Europe; the first recorded ascent was in 1882.

Who led the independent Corsican Republic proclaimed in 1755?

His constitution, ratified in November 1755, made Corsica a representative democracy; after defeat in 1769 he was exiled to Britain and died in London.

A German adventurer was briefly proclaimed King of Corsica in 1736. Who was he?

His reign lasted only months; by 1754 he was languishing in a debtors' prison in London.

To which French king did Genoa cede Corsica in 1768?

The island was pledged against debts Genoa had run up hiring French troops to fight the Corsican revolt; France annexed it outright in 1769.

Which famous Roman philosopher was exiled to Corsica?

The Romans used the island as a place of exile and considered it backward, though it exported honey, wax, cheap wine and slaves.

How many departements make up Corsica?

Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud were created in 1975; their collectivities were merged into a single territorial collectivity on 1 January 2018.

Before 1975, Corsica was a departement of which mainland French region?

That year the single departement was split into Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud.

What image appears on the flag of Corsica?

Paoli adopted it in 1755 and had the bandana moved from over the eyes to the forehead to symbolise liberation from Genoa; the same head appears on Sardinia's flag.

Why did the Corsican Republic's leader move the bandana on Corsica's flag from over the eyes to the forehead in 1755?

Earlier versions had it as a blindfold; between 1769 and 1789 Corsican patriots went back to the blindfolded version as a protest against French rule.

Which armed nationalist group announced itself with 21 attacks across Corsica on 5 May 1976?

The National Liberation Front of Corsica modelled itself on Algeria's FLN; its largest faction only called a truce in 2014.

Which French prefect was assassinated in Corsica in 1998?

Yvan Colonna was jailed for the killing; his own murder by a prison inmate in 2022 set off two weeks of rioting on the island.

Which Corsican cheese, similar to ricotta, is the key ingredient in the cake fiadone?

It is made from goat or sheep whey and used fresh in everything from stuffed pasta (sturzapreti) to omelettes.

Which tree did the Genoese plant across Corsica on a large scale, transforming the islanders' diet?

A 1584 Genoese governor ordered every farmer to plant four trees a year; the resulting flour goes into pulenta castagnina and a bread said to stay fresh for two weeks.

The Genoese built a chain of coastal towers around Corsica to defend against whom?

The raiders came from North Africa; many of the round towers still stand and give Cap Corse its skyline.

What is the name of the famously tough long-distance hiking trail that runs the length of Corsica?

It runs about 180 km from Calenzana to Conca with 12,000 m of climbing, and is generally regarded as the hardest of all the GR routes.

Roughly how many days do most hikers take to complete the GR20?

Between 10,000 and 20,000 people walk it every year; the northern half is usually rated the harder because of its steep, rocky paths.

Which Corsican nature reserve, reachable only by boat, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

It sits within the Parc Naturel Regional de Corse, created in 1972, and is reached by boat from Galeria or Porto.

Which endangered wild sheep, descended from archaic domestic flocks, lives in Corsica's mountains?

The Corsican red deer, once hunted to extinction on the island, was reintroduced from the surviving Sardinian population.

Which large scavenging bird, also called the Lammergeier, is a famous resident of Corsica?

With the griffon vulture it acts as an environmental 'janitor', clearing carcasses that would otherwise spread disease.

Which predator was hunted out of Corsica by about 1700 after escaped tame animals formed a feral population?

The Corsican hare, despite its name, is not native either: it was brought over from southern Italy in the 1600s.

Which language was official in Corsica until 9 May 1859, when French replaced it?

Corsican itself is closely related to medieval Tuscan; only about 10% of the population now speak it natively.

The Corsican village of Cargese was founded in the 17th century by immigrants from which country?

Greek remained the village's traditional language, while Bonifacio kept a Ligurian dialect known as bunifazzinu.

How long is Corsica at its longest point?

It is 83 km across at its widest, with 1,000 km of coastline and more than 200 beaches.

Which Corsican weather station records the highest year-round average temperature in Metropolitan France?

Its 1981-2010 annual mean was 16.41 C, and the island soaks up around 2,715 hours of sunshine a year.

Which foreign power was invited in 1794 to help drive the French out of Corsica?

The result was the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom, whose flag quartered the Moor's head with the British arms; the British withdrew in 1796.

Which was the first French departement to be liberated in the Second World War?

After the Italian armistice in September 1943, Italian and Free French forces together pushed the Germans off the island.

What was the codename of the mutinous French occupation of Corsica in the May 1958 crisis?

The planned second phase, seizing Paris, was cancelled once Charles de Gaulle formed a transitional government.

Which company caused outrage in 1972 by dumping toxic 'red mud' waste off the Corsican coast?

Dead cetaceans washed up on the shore, and one ship carrying the waste was bombed to stop the dumping.

How did Corsican voters respond to the 6 July 2003 referendum on abolishing the two departements?

The proposal came from Jean-Pierre Raffarin's government and interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy; the merger eventually happened anyway in 2018.

Which regionalist coalition led by Gilles Simeoni won Corsica's territorial elections in December 2015?

Jean Guy Talamoni became President of the Assembly and Simeoni Executive President of the Council days later.

What gauge is Corsica's 232 km railway network?

The main line runs Bastia to Ajaccio via Ponte Leccia, with a branch to Calvi; the east-coast line was wrecked in WWII and never reopened.

Which is Corsica's busiest seaport?

It handled more than 2.5 million passengers in 2012; Bonifacio's harbour, by contrast, only sees small car ferries from Sardinia.

How many international airports does Corsica have?

Ajaccio, Bastia, Calvi and Figari; the one serving the capital is named after Napoleon Bonaparte.

The Tour de Corse, held on the island since 1956, is what kind of motorsport event?

It was a World Rally Championship round from 1973 to 2008 and rejoined the WRC calendar in 2015.

Which Corsican club was in Ligue 2 in 2025-26 after playing in Ligue 1 the previous decade?

AC Ajaccio, also a recent Ligue 1 side, had dropped all the way to Regional 2 by 2025-26.

Which Corsican-born model and actress is on the island's list of famous natives?

Other Corsican celebrities include the singer Alizee, crooner Tino Rossi and Henri Padovani, the original guitarist of The Police.

Which member of The Police was born in Corsica?

Padovani was replaced by Andy Summers in 1977, before the band recorded its first album.

How many murders were committed in Corsica between 1821 and 1852, during the island's vendetta era?

The code of vendetta demanded deadly revenge for slights against family honour; Guy de Maupassant set his story 'A Vendetta' in Bonifacio.

Which Genoese admiral led the retaking of Corsica after a Franco-Ottoman fleet seized it in 1553?

Genoese control was confirmed by the Peace of Cateau-Cambresis; the Corsican rebel Sampiero Corso became a national hero for resisting.

The town of Bonifacio sits on cliffs of what rock, unusual on an island that is otherwise mostly granite?

The sea has undercut the chalk-white cliffs so that houses on the lip appear to overhang the water about 70 metres below.

Corsica became a Roman province, together with its southern neighbour, in which year?

The Romans built colonies at Mariana and Aleria on the east coast but never had much grip on the mountainous interior.

Which Corsican town saw its Pigno transmitter bombed by the FLNC in 1977?

Other 1970s attacks included the Solenzara air base in 1978 and 23 buildings in Paris on a single day in 1979.

How wide is the Strait of Bonifacio at its narrowest point?

Corsica sits 90 km from Tuscany but 170 km from the French Côte d'Azur, closer to Italy than to mainland France.

Which Frankish king expelled the Lombards from Corsica and nominally granted it to Pope Stephen II?

Under the Lombards the island had been a dependency of the Duchy of Tuscia, used as an outpost against the Saracens.

Roughly what share of Corsica's surface area is covered by nature reserves?

That is about 3,500 of the island's 8,680 square kilometres, much of it in the Parc naturel régional de Corse.