Corsica's cuisine is lent a highly distinctive flavour by the herbs - thyme, marjoram, basil, fennel and rosemary- of the maquis (the dense, scented scrub that covers lowland Corsica), enhanced by olive oil and spices.

You'll find the best charcuterie in the north, where pork is smoked and cured in the cold cellars of village houses - it's particularly tasty in the Castagniccia, where wild pigs feed on the chestnuts which were once the staple diet of the locals. Here you can also taste chestnut fritters ( fritelli a gaju frescu ) and chestnut cake ( pulenta ) sprinkled with sugar or eau de vie . Brocciu , a soft fromage frais made with ewe's milk, is found everywhere on the island, forming the basis for many dishes, including omelettes stuffed with ewe's cheese ( brocciu ) and mint, and cannelloni al brocciu. Fromage Corse is also very good - a unique hard cheese made in the sheep- and goat-rearing central regions, where kid stew ( cabrettu a l'istrettu ) is a speciality.

Game - mainly stews of hare and wild boar but also roast woodcock, partridge and wood pigeon - features throughout the island's mountain and forested regions. Here blackbirds ( merles ) are made into a fragrant pâté, and eel and trout are fished from the unpolluted rivers. Fish like red mullet ( rouget ), sea bream ( loup de mer ) and a great variety of shellfish are eaten along the coast - the best crayfish ( langouste ) comes from around the Golfe de St-Florent, whereas oysters ( huîtres ) are a speciality of the eastern plain.

Of the local wine , you should be sure to try the Santa Barba or Fiumicicoli wines of the Sartène area, which come in both rosé and red, and the Patrimonio, a robust white wine from Cap Corse. The favoured apéritifs are the sweet Muscat produced on Cap Corse and the drink known as Cap Corse , a fortified wine flavoured with quinine and herbs. Note that tap water is particularly good quality in Corsica, coming from the fresh mountain streams.