and of the wind-flower

a magical place. Cap Corse as seen from the tower in Nonza, a town I dreamed of visiting for so long.
Nonza, Corse.

and the bright surface of gold crocuses

sentier through the macquis outside of Macanaggio
Cap Corse, Corse.

and the colour of azure crocuses

The Citadell in Calvi
Calvi, Corse.

where the light struck,

The Corse experience is not fully lived unless you take the train.
Calvi train station, Corse.

caught from the raw fissure in the rock

Anna and Maëva.
Les calanches de Piana.

hyacinth colour

Les calanches de Piana.

Piana is a village in the south west of the island. Just outside of the village is the UNESCO world heritage site of Les Calanches de Piana. The calanques are massive red rocks that have been shaped and worn away by the wind and the sea. They are most famous for the shapes that they resemble like the head of the dog, the lovers and the castle, among the breathtaking views of the sea, from sheer drops off cliffs.

Piana, Corse.

but reflex of the earth

les calanches de Piana.

what had my face to offer

Cala d'Orzu.

The Rive Sud draws to a dramatic climax at Capo di Muro, on whose sheltered northern flank a particularly picturesque watchtower rises from a dense cover of maquis. Follow the signboards off the main road and you’ll drop down a rutted piste to a magnificent beach on the south side of the promontory called Cala d’Orzu. One of the two bar-restaurants behind it, Chez Francis, made international headlines when it was destroyed in an arson attack – not by separatist or Mafia guerrillas, as is normally the case in Corsica, but by undercover French police acting, or so it turned out, under direct orders from the state’s most senior offcial on the island.

the fire of your own presence?

One day, this house may no longer exist.
Bonifactio, Corse

the light of your own face,

Bonifacio, Bonifaziu, the village hanging precariously over the sea.

Bonifacio enjoys a superbly isolated situation at Corsica’s southernmost point, a narrow peninsula of dazzling white limestone creating a town site unlike any other on the island. The haute ville, a maze of narrow streets flanked by tall Genoese tenements, rises seamlessly out of sheer cliffs that have been hollowed and striated by the wind and waves, while on the landward side the deep cleft between the peninsula and the mainland forms a perfect natural harbour. A haven for boats for centuries, the anchorage is nowadays dominated by a swish marina that attracts yachts from all around the Mediterranean.

what was it you saw in my face?

Bonifacio II

It could be that Bonifacio’s first documented appearance is as the town of the cannibalistic Laestrygonians in the Odyssey; Homer’s description of an “excellent harbour, closed in on all sides by an unbroken ring of precipitous cliffs, with two bold headlands facing each other at the mouth so as to leave only a narrow channel in between” fits the port well. The unploughed land that Odysseus comes across inland of the harbour could be a reference to the plain beyond the Bonifacio promontory, and it’s also possible that he Neolithic tribes that once lived in this area where the barbaric attackers of Odysseus’s crew.

and your glance?

Bonifacio. A magical town. Right at the most southern tip of the island, the cliffs have been shaped by the winds of the Mediterranean Sea. This town was brutally massacreed by pirates way before Napoleon's time and it is also rumored that this the port city that Odyssey comes into during his journey.
A beautiful, eerie place. The rock you see in this photo, mammoth and majestic, is called 'le grain de sable' - humorous.

Bonifacio, Corse.

with the light from yours

The village of Bastica. Nestled in the mountains not far from the "urban centre" of Ajaccio, this sleepy village is the birth place of Sampiero Corso, one of the fathers of the nation. He is memorialized in the town square as a Gold Statue triumphantly about to draw his sword.
Bastica, Corse.

What was it that crossed my face

In the mountains, ascending to Val d'Ese, we came across this lunar landscape.
Corse.

above my face

le vieux port.
Bastia, Corse.

caught with the flame of the upper earth

Bastia, nowadays capital of the department of Haute-Corse, was the capital of the entire island under Genoa’s colonial administration, and it was the Genoese who laid the foundation of northern Corsica’s prosperity by encouraging the planting of vines, olives, chestnut trees and other more experimental crops – there’s even a village called Sparagaghiju (Asparagus) in the hills above St. Florent.

why did you bend your face

Bastia, Corse.

why did you hesitate for that moment?

One of the most beautiful discoveries I made that year. A sacred monument to Mary in a crumbling alleyway wall.
Bastia, Corse.

why did you glance back?

in the heart of the town of Bastia.
Corse.

why did you turn back?

Le vieux port. In the distance you can see the island Elba. This is where Napoleon was exiled to and eventually died. He said what tortured him the most was that he could smell his homeland but never return.
Bastia, Corse.