Life in Canari, Corsica
Our village, Canari , is made up of 2 small marines and 12 hameaux (ah-moh) or hamlets. Ange, l’ancien facteur (the retired postman) tells me that 328 hardy souls live in the village throughout the year. The village swells to about 2000 in the summer time.
The marines: Canelle: used to have a fire tower that overhangs the marine. Canelle is well known for U Scogliu, which in Corsican means “On the Rocks”, one of the best restaurants in the Cap Corse.
Scala means “The Steps”. It is a steep descent from the main road and the beach is frequented mostly by the locals who know how to get down. Scala is dotted with little cabanes and some still go out to fish in their little boats and modern zodiacs.
The hamlets: Marinca: This hamlet is probably called the Marine hamlet, as it is the closest to the sea. Marinca is the branché (hippy) hamlet, as there are a number of new philosophers and writers in recent years. The Marinca-nians often say they live côté montagne or côté mer (mountain-side or sea-side), as the departmental road cuts directly through the hamlet.
Once upon a time inVignale, the people grew vines and wine was the principle source of income. Vignale has a small chapelle (chapel) called Santa Maria Annunziata. It’s open once a year during the festival of Annunciation (On 25th of March, the archangel Gabriel told the virgin Mary that she would be carrying the Son of God). Vignale has the local watering hole, Bar des Amis (Friends’ bar), for the morning coffee, afternoon pastis (star anise drink) and the evening muscat (sweet Corsican dessert wine).
No one really knows the origin of Chine. Some say that it is the fifth hameau in the village.
Piève is the centre of the village. Here we find la mairie (mayor’s office), La Poste, tennis courts and a cultural center run by Anima Canarese (Canari’s Club). The most stunning architecture in Piève is Le Clocher (bell tower), built in the early 16th century. Ben and I go “Oooh, le clocher” when we see the clocher on our route. Seeing le clocher means we are not far from the village. Piève boasts of a 12th Century chapel called Santa Maria Assunta, where we light candles on le 15 août (15 August Festival to celebrate Mary, the mother of God), un paroissial (parish) called San Francescu, built in the 11th Century and un couvent (convent) from the 16th Century called I Fioretti (Convent of Saint Frances). I Fioretti was renovated two years ago and is now a gîte (low budget bed and breakfast) and museum for U Cunservatoriu di u vestitu corsu traditional costumes in the Cap Corse. Piève is also home to “Le Bon Clocher” restaurant, which is run by Henriette and her husband Francis. Henriette’s brother, Ange, is the chef, who used to be the head chef at U Scugliou.
Piazza boasts of a small château (privately owned). The original château was destroyed by the Génoise in 1554.
Salge is in ruins and completely abandoned. We see many stone houses, with roofs that have caved in, the layout of the hameau including an aqueduct made of stone. It’s easy to imagine how life was like in this hameau.
The foundations of a medieval tower can be seen in Longa … le hameau qui exist depuis toujours (the hamlet that has been there from the beginning).
Olmi has some tall, beautiful elm trees and the chapelle San Roccu. The village brings little bread buns to San Roccu for blessing on August 16, after the celebration of Mary’s ascension. The women folk bake the little buns after the blessing.
A long time ago, Pinzuta had a medieval square tower. We can still see a small part of the ruins. Pinzuta has a fountain that dates back to the mid 1500s, which is still in use. The chapelle in Pinzuta is called San Pietru.
Mercacce is the second hameau that is completely abandoned. There was a plague a long time ago that wiped it out.
Solaru is the hamlet of plentiful sunshine. It is formed by two sub-hamlets: Solaru Suttanu and Solaru Supranu (Lower Solaru and Upper Solaru) as the main walking path passes through Solaru. The chapelle at Solaru is called San Ghjuvaani.
Imiza is mostly in ruins and abandoned if not for le berger (the shepherd) and his flock of sheep and cows, and the elusive Swiss man who drops in once in a blue moon. Rumour has it that le Swiss (Swiss man) came to Canari some twenty years ago and fell in love with it instantly. But the Corsican mafia and rules are restrictive for foreigners owning property, so he bought a small part of Imiza (then completely abandoned) and restored a house, an oven and un aire a ble. The old chapelle, Santa Caterina, was restored shortly after le Swiss arrived. From Imiza, we can see le clocher and have an unobstructed view of the gulf of Saint-Florent, les Agriates. On a clear winter day, we can see the coast of Nice.
Everything has its time and place in the village. La poste (the post office) is open from 9am to noon. If you’ve missed it, it’s open again in Nonza, a village about a half hour drive away, from 3:30pm to 6:30pm. The mayor’s office is open every Mon, Wed and Fri morning and exceptionally every Tues afternoon.
The grocery truck, as well as le boulangère and bouchier trucks, makes its rounds to the various villages. The boulangère honks once, loud and clear, at about 9:30am at Chine, while the boucher camionette (small truck) honks a steady staccato. Here is Evelyn’s shiny new yellow truck and she goes around the Cap Corse every day, except Sunday, selling grocery. She sometimes takes special orders for some of the villagers, who are unable to drive to Saint-Florent or Bastia.
Life in Canari melds down to a snail pace, especially in the summer time. The village takes its sieste between 12 and 3:30pm. When you’re in Canari, everything comes to a standstill at sieste-time.. not a leaf stirs; the donkeys stop braying, even the most active of cats is dead asleep. Siestes are sacred and you know not to knock on anyone’s door or heaven forbid, create a ruckus. After the sieste, comes le goûter (tea break), which is usually a bowl of café or thé (tea) with canistrelli (Corsican white wine biscuits) or a slice of clafoutis.
Word of mouth is the best source of information in Canari. This year, there are a lot of changes in the food scene in the village. The lease for Epicerie Simonet has run out. Evelyn’s now making the rounds to villages in her new truck. The owner of U Scogliu has retired and sold the restaurant to someone from Nonza. Henriette and Francis have bought the restaurant portion of Au Bon Clocher. Ange is serving up good food, U Scogliu style, from when he was the head chef.
All the bonnes echoes (good feedback) are true. The food was that good. MJ, Ben and I had dinner at Au Bon Clocher – twice! I highly recommend La Soupe de Poissons (Fish soup), Cannelloni au broccio (baked cannelloni pasta with broccio cheese), pâte au fruits de mer (pasta with seafood). Everything is prepared from scratch daily and fait masion (“home made”).
Life in the village is also communal. You really get the sense that no one is an island. People are always chatting and talking to each other. You know who will be going to Bastia in two days’ time. You can get the baking powder from the supermarket that you missed the last time, including paracetomol from the nearest pharmacies in Saint-Florent or Bastia. Of course, village chat is not complete without the juicy gossips: le bal du 14 juillet (14th of July village ball), so and so’s gorgeous haricot verts (green beans), the village slut, the cradle snatcher… We while summer time away sitting around chatting.
U Scogliu Restaurant in Canelle Open from 15/04 – 15/10 Tél : 33 (0)4 95 37 80 06
La Mairie Tél : 33 (0)4 95 37 80 17
I Fioretti 6 chambres d’hôte and 3 gîtes 6 Bed and breakfast rooms and 3 self contained apartments (low budger) Tél: 33 (0)4 95 37 80 71
Au Bon Clocher Hotel and restaurant Open all year round; except for January Tél: 33 (0)4 95 37 80 15 Fax: 33 (0)5 95 37 80 06
Comments
I've seen your blog on Chocolate & zucchini and I visited it. You've done a really great one, congratulations.
I'm a young (26 years old) corsican leaving for few months in Paris and it's on your blog that I learnt there's somewhere named Chine in Canari village (so i'm little shamed).
If your go back to Corsica you can taste Falculelle (it's like a little fiadone cooked on leaf of chestnut tree)but maybe it's done.
Posted by: Seb | August 23, 2006 09:17 PM
Hello Seb,
Thanks for your nice comments - I'm happy that you like my site. I will definitely taste Falculelle the next time I go back to the village.
Posted by: LPC | August 24, 2006 11:08 AM