In the island of Corsica, France

 "Imagination rules the world." -- Napoleon Bonaparte

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(on the island of Corsica, France) The fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, Corsica is found 105 miles (170 kilometers) from southern France and 56 miles (90 km) from northwestern Italy. Separated from Sardinia by the seven-mile (11-km) Strait of Bonifacio, it juts from the foaming Mediterranean like an impregnable fortress, Corsica offers great geographical diversity. Within a short drive, the landscape ranges from beautiful bays, vibrant coastal cities and fine beaches to rugged mountain ridges, verdant valleys, dense forests, and hilltop villages. Featured here, with its grey granite houses, dead-end alleys and introspective air, is the hill village of Sartène, which has long been renowned for encapsulating Corsica’s rugged spirit. To French novelist Prosper Mérimée, this was the "most Corsican of Corsican towns." It certainly feels a long way from the glitter of the Corsican coast; the hillside houses are charmingly ramshackle, the streets scruffy and shady, and life still crawls along at a traditional tilt. Even if the banditry and bloody vendettas for which it was formerly known are now far in the past, Sartène continues to offer an authentic glimpse of how life was once lived in rural Corsica.

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