The Agriates desert

Between Saint-Florent and the mouth of the Ostriconi, the Agriate (désert des Agriates) covers 15,000 ha of maquis-covered hills, rock and coves, with no recent dwellings and no tarmac road down to the sea. It is called a ‘desert’, but the word is misleading: this land was farmed and grazed for centuries.

Photo : Jedesto, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A land of shepherds and farmers

From the Neolithic to the present day, herders and farmers from neighbouring villages (Giunsani, Ascu, Nebbiu, Cap Corse) used the Agriate seasonally. They left behind low stone walls, threshing floors and pagliaghji, the dry-stone shelters (paillers) where shepherds took cover. Those at Ghignu have been restored. Vineyards, meadows and olive groves are still worked on the edges of the site. Today more than a third of the Agriate belongs to the Conservatoire du littoral, and it spreads across four municipalities.

Photo : Gzen92, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The beaches of the Agriate

The coastline has 37 km of coves and white sand beaches, from east to west:

• the Lotu, the closest to Saint-Florent, with a jetty where the boats come in;
• Saleccia, more than a kilometre of sand lined with pines, the only beach on the site with drinking water;
• Ghignu and Malfalcu, more isolated, reached by the track from the Vezzu pass or on foot;
• the Ostriconi, at the mouth of the river on the L’Île-Rousse side, reached on foot from the old road.

Photo : Isiwal, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Why go

Because this is the wildest coast in the north of the island, and reaching it takes some effort. The best compromise is to walk out to the Lotu on the coastal path and come back by boat: a full day, without driving the track. In July and August, Saleccia and the Lotu draw crowds arriving by sea; in May, June and September you will have them almost to yourself, and the heat on the path is bearable.