Figari: wild coves in southern Corsica

The village of Figari, with its surrounding vineyards and olive groves, produces some of the most prestigious wines of the Corse-Figari appellation.

A few minutes away, the Lavezzi Islands, an archipelago of granite islets off Bonifacio, remain a protected nature reserve with some of the Mediterranean's clearest turquoise waters.

Following the coast, you reach Bonifacio, a medieval fortress town built on a limestone cliff plunging into the sea.

As evening falls, the beaches of Rondinara, shaped like a perfect shell, offer a peaceful swim before sunset.

The Îles Lavezzi hold the wreck of the French frigate Sémillante, sunk in 1855 with over seven hundred people aboard, one of France's worst maritime tragedies of the nineteenth century, remembered by a small naval cemetery on the island.

Bonifacio rises on a limestone cliff that marine erosion slowly carves from below, creating an increasingly pronounced overhang over centuries, monitored today with careful attention by local authorities for the safety of historic buildings.