Corsican fish

The sea around Corsica has been overfished for generations and the number of sea fishermen has vastly diminished. However there are now some signs of resuscitation and regional government is putting in hand some programmes to improve the situation - not surprisingly given our 1000 kilometres of coast! In Sardinia, our neighbour, for instance the number of fishermen has increased from 200-600 in ten years). There are just under 200 registered fishermen around the coast (in 2002) - down from 500 in 1987. They are organised in four associations (Calvi, Bastia, Porto Vecchio and Ajaccio). There are only 12 trawlers. In the Calvi region (from St Florent to Girolata), the catch has diminished by half in 20 years and the fishermen have to go to between 5-10 miles out to find their fish and langoustes. You may love the dolphins, but the fishermen don't - 80-100 kilos of fish go down each mammal's throat per day!

The fishing fleet of small boats is being modernised, but it maintains the old traditions. For the large part it is day fishing (or at least out and back within the 24 hours). Distribution is not highly organised and most of the catch is sold on the quayside, bought directly by restaurants or sold in a few daily markets or itinerant fishmongers. If you want to know more, send for an excellent leaflet A Pesca Corsa from the regional sea fishing organisation, CRPMEM de Corse, 16 Boulevard Danielle Casanova, 20000 Ajaccio.

Corsican cuisine

The shortest way to describe it would be to say that it’s a mixture of Italian and French, but that leaves out the local peasant cooking traditions, not often practiced as high art. Traditionally Corsicans ate what the produced, reared or hunted. Staples of the Corsican diet apart from fruit and vegetables were chestnuts and chestnut flour, olive oil, sheep and goat cheese, cured meat and game. Wide varieties of wild herbs were, and still are, used. Calamint (nepita) was a staple and many others occur all over the island – rosemary, mint, sage, fennel, for example. Brocciu (a whey-based goat or sheep cheese produced from the autumn to the middle of summer) is the basis for many sweet and savoury dishes: doughnuts and pies, pasta fillings and sauces.

Bastia - Saint Roch Brotherhood Oratory

Saint Roch Brotherhood Oratory dates from 1604. Inside, side walls offer panels hung with crimson damask, punctuated with golden pilasters. The motives in grisaille and foliages decorating the
vault are dated the 18 th century. The high altar altarpiece in polychrome marbles presents a painting of the 18 th century. The gallery shelters a splendid Italian walnut sculpted and gilded organ dating from 1750. Lastly, Saint Roch processional statue (celebrated on the 16 th of August) is exposed since the 18 th century in a recess on the left of the entrance. The vocation of Saint Roch brotherhood was to support condemned persons, assist ill people and bury the dead.