The secret estate that channels the spirit of Corsica

Times

10-07-2025

On an island celebrated for its beaches, the Plage d'Erbaju in southwest Corsica is among the most beautiful. It is here that the Ortolo River reaches the sea, a meeting of sapphire blue and turquoise across a long curve of fine white sand. At either end are two headlands: one guarded by a lion-shaped rock formation, the Lion de Roccapina, gazing over a Genoese watchtower towards the hazy silhouette of Sardinia; the other home to the Table de la Plage, an artfully constructed driftwood restaurant that turns hyper-local produce into impeccable Mediterranean cuisine.
As beaches go, it's pretty near perfect, enough to justify a trip on its own. But as is often the way in Corsica, the beach is only part of the story — in this case that of the Domaine de Murtoli, a 6,000-acre estate of largely untouched scrubland and forest that extends up the valley from the coast. For 30 years the estate has welcomed guests to its 20 holiday villas, all hidden away among the folds of its land for extra privacy, and to its nine-room Hôtel de la Ferme, together becoming some of the most in-demand accommodation on the island.
Now the estate has added a second hotel, A Mandria di Murtoli, which opened in June in a former livestock enclosure, with ten rooms and suites set in landscaped grounds of golden immortelle shrubs and silvery-green olive trees. The new hotel is a 15-minute drive to the north of the older one, a route that passes wild boar as they scuttle through the fragrant maquis and holm oaks. Here the view is of the mountains: of granite rock protruding through waves of green; of the outlines of successive peaks, fading as they recede into a powder blue sky.
The island, though known for its beaches, is also one of mountains — rising to the 2,700m-high Monte Cinto in the north — so much so that the 19th-century German geographer Friedrich Ratzel nicknamed it a 'mountain in the sea'. The Corsicans were historically a mountain people, who retreated to the interior to escape malaria, pirates and invaders on the coast. They lived in isolated villages, growing olives and chestnuts for oil and flour, keeping pigs and sheep for cured hams and delicious brocciu (a soft cheese made from whey and fresh ewe's milk).
The culture of these communities was fascinating, as related in Dorothy Carrington's magnificent historical portrait of Corsica, Granite Island (1971). Coexisting alongside the Catholic religion were pagan beliefs that Carrington traced back to the megalithic era. Their more sensational elements included mazzeri, or 'night-hunters of souls', who would go out hunting in their dreams, kill the first animal they found, then predict the death, within the year, of the person they saw in the animal's face. There were also honour-based vendettas that could start with something as inconsequential as a donkey straying on to a rival family's land but trigger a series of murders that might wipe out an entire village, and bandits d'honneur who took to the maquis, often to escape a vendetta.
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The soul of old Corsica — or at least its more peaceful manifestation — lives on at the Domaine de Murtoli, which is named after myrtle, the pretty white aromatic shrub. It used to be a farm, where cattle roamed freely in the maquis. But when Paul Canarelli inherited it from his grandfather in 1993, he saw an opportunity to introduce high-end hospitality as well (his father owned the glamorous Grand Hôtel de Cala Rossa, now managed by his sisters, Hélène and Lise, in the popular beachfront resort of Porto-Vecchio). The holiday houses and shepherd's huts opened first, followed by the Hôtel de la Ferme in 2021. I spent one unforgettable night at A Manzetta, a 17th-century bergerie for four built in thick granite and rough limestone with an enormous dark-wood wardrobe. It felt wonderfully cool and ancient. In the morning Domaine's fées du logis ('house fairies') delivered a breakfast of rustic bread and jams, which I ate in an outdoor kitchen, overlooking a pool hewn out of the contours of the granite rock.
'Our aim is to offer authentic, family-friendly and generous hospitality that puts nature first,' says Paul's daughter, Santa, now the Domaine's gracious general manager, as she showed me to my suite at A Mandria di Murtoli. Named Amandula after the almond tree, this converted stable is one of three suites that have their own brick-lined plunge pool, a contemporary take on an old-school water trough (and a wonderful place to sit and read). There are also five rooms and suites in a main building, and two in former shepherd's huts. The spirit is the same as at the wider Domaine, yet more playful, colourful, contemporary and Italian in its expression — as if a breeze has blown in from Sardinia. The bricks are arranged in patterns, the terracotta mixed with glazed tiles by Cerasarda in the dappled hues of the Mediterranean.
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Outside, cobbled paths and low granite walls snake down to a huge swimming pool, which is surrounded by Balinese day beds with stripped-wood canopies. In the outdoor restaurant above the pool a stylish international clientele — the women in Greek goddess-style dresses — sip white beer flavoured with Murtoli gin, and dine on superior pasta dishes courtesy of the chef Damiano Colazzo (mains from £23). Retro Italian tunes are accompanied by the buzz of cicadas. The atmosphere is chilled and festive.
Happily A Mandria guests also have access to the restaurants of the Domaine, which are dotted across the estate: the beachfront Table de la Plage (with its sensational lemon sorbet and meringue courtesy of the Parisian chef Yann Couvreur); the central Table de la Ferme (which serves Michelin-starred cuisine and more casual piattini or tapas, such as a plate of tomme and brocciu cheese); and the fantastical Table de la Grotte, set inside and atop a cluster of giant granite rocks linked by wooden walkways. Here, guests sit at tables among the rocks, sipping myrtle sours as the sun gilds the maquis, then move inside a series of candlelit caves for a traditional Corsican feast focused around a shoulder of lamb. All three restaurants use the estate's own produce: cheese, meat and veal from the sheep and cows grazing along the river, vegetables and herbs from two extensive potagers, honey from the estate's own hives. 'It has evolved gradually,' says Paul. 'It wouldn't be what it is if it hadn't.'
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As well as being an immense larder, the Domaine de Murtoli is a vast playground for hiking, hunting, fishing and golf — where 'everything is proposed, but nothing imposed'. There are treatments with Nucca products — an organic range developed by Hélène and Lise that uses Corsican plants — in two open-air structures at the beach or, at A Mandria di Murtoli, in your own room, and botanical workshops with the forager Florence Weis. Since July 1 guests have also been able to taste the estate's first wines, produced from the first 25 acres planted with Corsican grape varieties, sciacarello and vermentino among them. The vines grow in the shadow of the menhirs of Cauria, prehistoric standing stones that have stood here for 6,500 years. 'They have an energy that the plants can feel in the right conditions,' the vineyard manager David Barranger reckons.
Murtoli is also well situated for visiting two of Corsica's most compelling towns, beginning with Bonifacio, a 40-minute drive along the coast. This deep narrow harbour between soaring chalk cliffs, its houses teetering on the edge, is thought to have been the home of the mythical Laestrygonians, the cannibalistic giants who attack Odysseus's fleet in Homer's epic poem. Its history is just as captivating and the climb from the port to the citadel and cemetery at the top walks you through it, taking in a five-month siege by the king of Aragon in 1420, in which the Genoese inhabitants resorted to eating all sorts of herbs — 'even those disdained by beasts'. Bonifacio is also a lovely place to shop — for beachwear, jewellery and maquis-scented diffusers by the Corsican brand Casonera, which provides the in-room products at A Mandria. The views to Sardinia are phenomenal.
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There are more heart-stopping views in Sartène, 30 minutes' drive inland from Murtoli. This 'most Corsican of Corsican towns' was built on a rocky outcrop to better defend itself, and its Good Friday procession — U Catenacciu — features a chained penitent in a red-hooded cloak, hefting a heavy cross through the streets. Its medieval warren of narrow streets, stone stairways and tall granite houses would feel very King's Landing were it not for the tourist boutiques and restaurants. Back in the airy central Place de Libération, the most imposing building is the Church of Sainte Marie de l'Assomption, where every Thursday evening the Choeur de Sartène gives a concert of sacred and secular songs, sung a cappella by six male voices. Like Domaine de Murtoli, this polyphonic tradition is an authentic expression of the Corsica of old. I stood on the steps, entranced, as I had been by my Corsican adventure as a whole.Lisa Johnson was a guest of A Mandria di Murtoli, which has B&B doubles from £206 (amandriadimurtoli.com), of the Hameau de Saparale, and the Domaine Le Mouflon. Fly to Figari
By Lisa Johnson
While the Domaine de Murtoli is an established place to stay with a new vineyard, this 2,500-acre estate in the same valley is an established vineyard with a new four-star hotel. Originally planted with vines in 1845 by a Corsican lawyer who had spent 20 years in Africa — hence the elephant logo — the estate changed hands when his son left it to the housekeeper. The winemaker and oenologist Philippe Farinelli is her grandson and since 1998 he and his wife, Julie, have been replanting the vines and restoring the ruined buildings. They already offered tastings of their five ranges of organic wines and rented out three luxury shepherd's huts. Now they have opened the original manor house with 14 elegantly rustic rooms and suites and a chapel, as well as two separate family suites and a dining room over the wine cellar (the tomme soufflé is a standout). The swimming pool, hidden among citrus trees and agapanthus, has magical views over the valley, and at night the sky blazes with stars. Ebikes are available for riding through the estate's vines and untouched forest (there are no other buildings here), as well as to the beautiful Plage de Roccapina; Sartène and Cauria are both nearby. Details B&B doubles from £232 (lehameaudesaparale.com)
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The soaring granite Needles of Bavella are one of Corsica's greatest hits and this Relais & Châteaux five-star hotel — one hour's drive from Figari airport — offers an excellent view of them on the ten-minute walk into the village of Zonza. The hotel is well known among Corsicans: it was built in 1926 by the PLM (Paris-Lyon-Méditeranée railway company) and hosted the exiled king of Morocco and his 20 wives in 1953 — the owner, Anthony Bornea, has the photographs to prove it. He and his wife, Lise Canarelli — sister of Paul and Hélène, have spent six years resurrecting it, adding a fourth floor to the austere building and an outdoor pool to the 47 acres. There are 20 rooms (my junior suite looked out over a towering cedar of Lebanon) and two bergeries; an extensive spa is due to open next year. The refined and uncluttered interiors offset dark-wood furniture and shadowy oil portraits with white walls and sparkling chandeliers, and the food — eaten in an elegant dining room, belle époque conservatory or out on the terrace — is faultless. The Plateau de Coscione, Ospedale Lake and two stages of the redoubtable GR20 hiking trail are all nearby; biking and canyoning can also be organised.Details B&B Doubles from £277 (lemouflondor.com)