Bonifacio: The Town on the Edge of the Cliff
Corsica, France
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Bonifacio
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250
XP
+100 France
= 350 total
1 day
Bonifacio: The Town on the Edge of the Cliff
250 + 100 XP
Bonifacio's old town, the Haute Ville, sits on a cape of white limestone 1,600 m long and barely 100 m wide, which the sea has undercut so far that the houses on the edge look about to fall — and have looked that way for centuries. It is the southernmost commune of metropolitan France, across the strait from Sardinia. On 21 October 1420 Alfonso V of Aragon landed with a fleet of 31 vessels and was thrown back by a Genoese garrison of 250; on 28 December Gianno de Campofregoso forced the blockade and resupplied the town, and on 5 January 1421 Alfonso lifted the siege, called away to help Joanna II of Naples. The commune runs out to the Lavezzi islands, where the frigate Sémillante — 773 men aboard, bound for the Crimea — struck a shoal in thick fog on 15 February 1855 with no survivors.
Required Activities
1
of 6
Walk the Haute Ville the length of its cape — 1,600 m long and barely 100 m wide — out to the houses built on the lip of the undercut limestone, which have given the impression of imminent collapse for centuries without troubling anybody who lives in them
2
of 6
Go down the 189 steps of the Escalier du roi d'Aragon, cut straight into the cliff face, and decide for yourself which story the stair fits: legend says Aragon's troops dug it in a single night during the 1420 siege, but it was more likely cut over much longer by Franciscan monks to reach the Saint-Barthélémy spring in the cave at the foot
3
of 6
Take the boat out under the cliffs and pick out the Grain de Sable, the single block of limestone standing out of the water a few tens of metres off the foot of the cliff, then look up at how far the sea has eaten in under the town
4
of 6
Find the cistern built in 1318 under the loggia beside Sainte-Marie-Majeure to catch the rain off the roofs — on a limestone cape with no spring, that roof water was how the town outlasted a fleet sitting offshore — and go inside the 12th- and 13th-century church for Nicolas Carrega's 20th-century glass
5
of 6
Cross to the Lavezzi and find both of the Sémillante's cemeteries — Acharino on the west of the island, Furcone on the east — where 560 of the 773 dead lie, and read the plaque at Furcone that says their remains are mingled here with their men's
6
of 6
Walk out along the clifftop to the Capo Pertusato light, inaugurated in 1844, and from there look across the bouches de Bonifacio to Sardinia — a strait known for violent water and now run as an international reserve
Walk the Haute Ville the length of its cape — 1,600 m long and barely 100 m wide — out to the houses built on the lip of the undercut limestone, which have given the impression of imminent collapse for centuries without troubling anybody who lives in them
Go down the 189 steps of the Escalier du roi d'Aragon, cut straight into the cliff face, and decide for yourself which story the stair fits: legend says Aragon's troops dug it in a single night during the 1420 siege, but it was more likely cut over much longer by Franciscan monks to reach the Saint-Barthélémy spring in the cave at the foot
Take the boat out under the cliffs and pick out the Grain de Sable, the single block of limestone standing out of the water a few tens of metres off the foot of the cliff, then look up at how far the sea has eaten in under the town
Find the cistern built in 1318 under the loggia beside Sainte-Marie-Majeure to catch the rain off the roofs — on a limestone cape with no spring, that roof water was how the town outlasted a fleet sitting offshore — and go inside the 12th- and 13th-century church for Nicolas Carrega's 20th-century glass
Cross to the Lavezzi and find both of the Sémillante's cemeteries — Acharino on the west of the island, Furcone on the east — where 560 of the 773 dead lie, and read the plaque at Furcone that says their remains are mingled here with their men's
Walk out along the clifftop to the Capo Pertusato light, inaugurated in 1844, and from there look across the bouches de Bonifacio to Sardinia — a strait known for violent water and now run as an international reserve
Before you go
Unfenced cliff edges round the old town. Boats to the Lavezzi depend on the weather in the strait.
Unfenced cliff edges all round the old town, and the Escalier du roi d'Aragon is 189 steep steps down and back up. The boat operators are plain that sailings are cancelled in unfavourable conditions and that timetables and routes change with the weather and the season, so the cliffs-and-Lavezzi half of this day is never guaranteed — check the morning you go and keep it for the first half of your stay. The crossing to the Lavezzi is about 30 minutes each way.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
250 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
350 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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