Désert des Agriates

The Agriates desert covers about 15,000 hectares in northern Corsica, between the Mediterranean to the north and the Serra di Tenda mountains to the south. The name comes from the Latin ager, which refers to agriculture. The word "desert" appeared later, after the First World War, when the rural exodus gave the impression of an abandoned land.

For centuries, this territory fed Corsica with wheat, and olives and citrus fruits were also grown and sheep raised there. Traces of occupation date back 7,000 years, with dolmens still visible. The coast has 37 kilometres of shoreline, with beaches such as Saleccia and Lotu, and Monte Genova, a granite inselberg 421 metres high. The Conservatoire du littoral has protected more than 5,500 hectares there since 1979; the maquis shelters many rare species.

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