What to do in Pietrosella and around the Gulf of Ajaccio
Pietrosella covers three thousand six hundred hectares between sea and mountain, with a little over a thousand residents in winter and close to six thousand in summer. Small enough to go all the way round, varied enough to fill a week without ever taking the same road twice. Here is what people really do here.
The village and its hamlets
The commune is more than its shoreline. Set back from the sea, the village of Pietrosella and its hamlets, Cruciata, Sant'Amanza and Accelasca, keep their stone architecture, their chapels and lanes where you meet more cats than cars. It is an hour's stroll, best taken late in the day as the heat drops.
Accelasca is the hamlet where our villa stands. Sleeping in a hamlet rather than by the road changes the night: you hear crickets, not engines.
The Genoese tower of Isolella
This is the walk to do first, because it hands you the geography of the gulf in one go. The tower was built in 1597 on the tip of the Isolella peninsula. It is in good condition, and the path leading to it takes less than ten minutes from the Cala Medea car park.
From up there you look out over the Sette Nave rocks, the whole Gulf of Ajaccio, and the Sanguinaires islands in the distance. It is manageable with children and needs no special equipment. Bring closed shoes: the ground is granite and pine needles.
Getting there: from Porticcio, head for the Isolella roundabout, then follow the signs for "Tour de l'Isolella" to the car park at Cala Medea cove. The start of the path is signposted a few metres away.
The tower of Capu di Muru
Further south and more demanding, the walk to the tower of Capu di Muru starts from the hamlet of Cascionu and crosses the maquis. The return can follow the coast, with plunging views over Cala d'Orzu. Allow half a day, take water, and set off early in summer.
This is the walk to keep for a day away from the beach, or for a September morning when the light is low.
The sea, other than on the sand
Ruppione offers paddleboard hire and water sports in season. It could not be simpler: you walk down from A Terrazza, hire a board, and come back for lunch.
To go further, boat trips leave from Porticcio, ten minutes away by road. Three formats come back every summer:
- The Sanguinaires islands, a half day in the afternoon. The best ratio between time spent and what you see, especially if you time the trip for sunset.
- Bonifacio and the Lavezzi islands, a full day of about eight hours at sea. The white cliffs seen from below and the Lavezzi lagoon rank among the finest moments of a stay in Corsica.
- Scandola and Girolata, to the north, also a full day.
These trips are booked the day before in July and August. We are happy to point you to the operators at the time of your stay.
Ajaccio, twenty minutes away
The city is close enough for a morning and lively enough to come back to. The covered market on place Foch in the morning, Napoleon's birthplace, the Fesch museum and its Italian painting collection, the lanes of the old town. At the end of the day, the Sanguinaires road follows the sea to the Parata headland.
A local's tip: park at the harbour car park and do the city on foot. You walk along the quays, enter the old town by place Foch, and come out along the Sanguinaires at sunset.
Inland and prehistory
Some forty minutes to the south, the prehistoric site of Filitosa lines up its statue-menhirs in a valley of olive trees. It is short to visit, surprisingly peaceful, and it gives Corsica a depth you would never suspect from the beach.
Higher inland, the Taravo valley and the villages of the Ornano offer winding roads, country tables and coolness on the hottest days.
Where to eat
We do not keep a ranking, because tables change from one season to the next and dated advice serves no one. Three markers, however, hold true.
Porticcio, ten minutes away, holds the widest choice on the south shore, from beach restaurant to more refined table. The beach shacks at Ruppione and Mare e Sole open in season and are a blessing at lunchtime, feet in the sand. And inland, towards the Taravo valley and the villages of the Ornano, country inns serve Corsican food at prices that bear no relation to the seafront.
A word the day before is enough to book, even at the simplest tables. On your arrival we are glad to share our current addresses.
The markets
The covered market in Ajaccio, place Foch, runs in the morning and is worth the trip for the charcuterie, the ewe's milk cheeses, the fruit and the honey. It is also the best place to take home something other than a fridge magnet.
In season, smaller producers' markets set up on the south shore. They are announced locally, often from one week to the next.
When you feel like something other than the beach
There are mornings when you would rather have shade and history. Ajaccio fills them very well: the Fesch museum and its Italian painting collection, one of the richest in France after the Louvre, Napoleon's birthplace, the cool lanes of the old town. Filitosa, for its part, takes on a particular atmosphere under a veiled sky, and its statue-menhirs are all the more striking for it.
With teenagers
The south shore is a playground made for them: paddleboarding and surfing at Ruppione, jet-ski and kayak at Porticcio, diving over the Isolella seabed, full-day boat trips. And the villa adds a pétanque court and a table tennis table, which take care of late afternoons and evenings.
A typical week
- Day 1 — arrival, shopping, Ruppione beach at the end of the day.
- Day 2 — beach in the morning, Isolella tower late in the afternoon.
- Day 3 — Ajaccio in the morning, pool on return.
- Day 4 — boat trip to the Sanguinaires.
- Day 5 — Mare e Sole and a siesta.
- Day 6 — Filitosa and the Taravo valley.
- Day 7 — Capu di Muru in the morning, one last swim.
Where to stay to be at the centre of all this
Our four addresses are in the commune of Pietrosella, a few minutes from one another.
- Villa Accelasca — nine guests, heated infinity pool facing the gulf, in the hamlet of Accelasca.
- A Marina — one-bedroom with sea view for four, Ruppione beach two minutes away on foot.
- A Terrazza — one-bedroom on a single level, without a step, terrace and balcony over the gulf.
- U Giardinu — one-bedroom with sleeping nook and enclosed garden, up to five guests.