The thing about Corsica: No matter where you go, from its heights to its depths, you will not be able to get away from Napoleon. Perhaps the most famous Frenchman in the modern mind, and certainly the most famous Corsican flat-out, love for the man the British derisively call “Boney” runs deep.
Long apart of Republic of Genoa — that is, Italy — Corsica was conquered by France in 1769 (the same year Napoleon was born), but to this day retains a particularly strong Romanesque-y, Italian flavor. Several place-names retain their Italianate sounds, in fact, if with a very heavy French twist. Corsica is very much its own “thing,” but it is also, literally and in a sort of figurative way, the most southern of the South of France. But as the Corsicans have a very strong sense of Corsican-ness, don’t tell them I said that.
So first things first: Any vacation to Corsica is going to start in the port of entry and largest city of Ajaccio, on the west coast. Club Elton is the premier gay club in town, and L’Enigme should be on the radar, too. If that seems like slim pickings, cut some slack for the town: it ain’t that big, with a population around only 66,000. But what Ajaccio may lack in a plethora of clubs, it more than makes up for in beaches, several of which are nude, and several of which are gay and nude. Woo-hoo!
Getting to them all, however, will require something of a road trip, but hey, there are worse fates than a road trip across a sundrenched island smack in the middle of the Mediterranean. Corsica has about 200 beaches flung across its 620-mile coastline, some in Ajaccio itself, but the gay ones are outliers. The “official” gay beach is in the town of Bonifacio, at the southern tip of Corsica, near the beach of Tonnara. To the north, in Calvi, is Algajola-Aregno, whose nude section doubles as the gay beach, with the one in Linguizzetta, on the west coast, pulling much the same duty. As a side, don’t be too surprised if your gay beach tour of the island unexpectedly extensive; Corsica is the most mountainous island in the Mediterranean. The roadmap is nothing but squiggles.
There are a few cultural highpoints to be had. The Old Town of Ajaccio is a timewarp, and the citadel goes all the way back to 1554. The food is a blend of Provence and Italy, and it goes with saying the wine is tops. It’s all to be had if you can pull yourself off the natives.