miles from SARTÈNE
miles to BONIFACIO
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SARTÈNE. The road winds its way through great blocks of granite
scattered on a plain studded with shrubby specimens of the ilex, towards
the shore of the Golfo di Roccapina, with a fantastically shaped rock
called il Leone Coronato. East from the gulf the road passes the village
of Pianottoli, 21 m. from Sartène, almost due south from the singular
mountain l'Uomo di Cagna, 3980 ft.; then the bridge across the Figari at
the head of the Gulf of Figari, 23 m.; the Col de la Testa or Scopeto,
225 ft., 24 m.; and the bridge across the Ventilegni, 27 m. from
Sartène, and 6 from Bonifacio.
[Headnote: BONIFACIO.]
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BONIFACIO, pop. 4000. H. du Nord; France in the high town. Diligences
leave daily for Bastia, Sartène, and Ajaccio. A steamer arrives every
Saturday from Ajaccio and returns on the Monday. Bonifacio was founded
in 833 by the Tuscan marquis whose name it bears, to protect this part
of the island against the piratical incursions of the Saracens. The high
town is built on the top of a limestone rock rising vertically from the
sea. The low town occupies one side of the fine natural dock, hemmed in
by perpendicular cliffs with an opening of only 328 yards towards the
sea. From the steamboat wharf a broad paved series of steps leads up to
the high town, entering it through the Porte Vieille. In the old house
fronting this Porte or gateway, Charles V., in 1541, stayed two days and
a night on his return from his unsuccessful expedition against Algiers.
Overtaken by a storm, he had taken refuge in the Gulf of Santa Manza.
The door of the house, decorated with an arabesque on marble, is in the
narrow side street. In the Place d'Armes are the church of San Domenico,
built by the Templars, characterised by its octagonal tower with an
embrasured termination; and the great tower "Torrione," part of the
fortifications built by the marquis, and formerly the most important
part of the citadel. Near this tower is the flight of steps "Redragon,"
cut in the rock by the Genoese, which descends by 202 steps to the sea.
The small room over the gateway of the citadel, opposite the house of
Charles V., was inhabited by Napoleon for nearly eight months. There are
grand sea-views from the ramparts. The town consists of tall, dingy
houses, and narrow, steep, and in most cases dirty streets. The
promenade of Bonifacio is the small covered terrace before the church of
Santa Maria. Here also is the public cistern.
Of the numerous caves which pierce the base of the rock of Bonifacio,
the most remarkable one enters from the sea, 214 feet below the Place
d'Armes, and extends to an unknown distance. It contains a freshwater
lake, which rises and falls with the tide. A staircase with a vaulted
roof and consisting of 337 steps leads down to this lake. The water is
brought up to the surface by a force pump, is perfectly transparent,
with a slight calcareous taste. In the high town there are 39 private
and one public cistern, in which the rain water from the roofs is stored
up. The low town has a well supplied from a stream by an aqueduct. The
afternoon is the best time to visit the caves. A boat for one or party
should not cost more than 5 frs. The finest, the Dragonetta, cannot be
visited when the sea is rough.
On Monte Pertusato (the south extremity of Corsica), 2 miles S.E. from
Bonifacio, is a lighthouse of the first order, 325 feet above the sea.
The southern promontory is pierced by a cavern hung with stalactites.
Bonifacio to Bastia.