The Agriates Desert

Le Agriates Desert at Corsica is the only region in France to have this official designation of desertBut this is no sand desert. The landscape looks very hostile to life or agriculture and is 30 km long and 15 km wide.

With only one hamlet on this road, Casta. The first sign that the density is low is the presence of army barracks on the left, more specifically a parachute training camp.

Why the "Agriates" desert?

In fact, the Agriates was mainly occupied by shepherds and farmers CorsicaNeither community settled here, which explains why the population density today is even lower than elsewhere.

The only dwellings you will see, apart from the hamlet of Casta, are the Pagliaghji (straw huts), once the shepherds' houses; these dry-stone constructions are made up of a single room topped by a corbelled vault.

The farmers, the Corsican capes, came by boat to farm during the season, and in winter the shepherds travelled there with their animals from the Niolo. There were two types of transhumance.