A Casa Reale

Built in the late 1700s by a Corsican family, the house is filled with history – Bonaparte stayed here on his way to France – and you climb the original staircase to enter. Rooms are large and luxurious, there are many books about Corsica in the drawing room, which everybody is welcome to use and there’s a pretty terrace for breakfast, or to sip a sundowner admiring the views of Bastia and the sea.

Breakfast is a special event. Rose makes her own fresh pastries and bread, tarts and flans from chestnut flour, pancakes, eggs from her own hens and homemade jams. There are local wines to be tasted if you want a pre-dinner drink. You can walk to Grazie Mille next door for delicious Italian and Corsican dishes or stroll into the old port in ten minutes for endless restaurants and tapas bars.

You sleep in bedrooms with a colour scheme – all big, one with French doors to the terrrace, another with sea views. Bathrooms are spotless.