Postcard from Corsica

Hello from… Southern Corsica, near Porto Vecchio, where I’m spending the week with my identical twin sister, Coliena (“Coco”) and her family. Coco is a fashion photographer, my longtime creative collaborator, my favorite person to split a vacation rental with—and the only travel mate who can make getting lost on a winding Corsican road feel like part of the itinerary.

Where we’re staying… Casa di Legna. It’s perched above Santa Giulia Bay and seemingly designed to blur the line between indoors and out. Originally a 1960s stone structure, it was reimagined by Corsican architect Gilles Terrazzoni and designer Angélique Buisson into a striking wood-clad retreat that feels equal parts modernist beach house and Scandinavian cabin. Giant accordion-like wooden shutters frame the Mediterranean from nearly every angle, while stone, linen, clay, and sun-bleached wood do the decorating. The 6-bedroom house seems to emerge from the landscape itself—built around boulders, wrapped in wild greenery, and oriented toward that impossible shade of blue. It was the kind of place that made even staying home feel like the day’s main event.  

The best meal(s) we had… were at home: grilled sea bass sourced from a local fishmonger, aubergines and courgette cooked on the plancha, endive and mache salad with a lemon and garlic dressing, and, for dessert, a tarte aux pommes from Maison Pietri, a local favorite with a line out the door. Around the clock, we devoured peaches, plums and nectarines foraged at the farmer’s market in Porto Vecchio (make sure to bring cash!). We earned our Breton stripes dutifully sampling every charming boulangerie that crossed our path and quickly learned that in Corsica, hunting down a good baguette is about as easy as sinking our toes onto a white sandy beach. The island has been part of France since the 18th century, and thankfully the baguette standards appear to have remained firmly intact. Our favorite for traditional rustic bread was Boulangerie Paul Mallaroni in Porto Vecchio. 

Most fun things we did… Beach-hopping—nearly a dozen in all, including Plage de Palombaggia, Santa Giulia, Cala Rossa (with a pit stop at the Grand Hotel‘s stylishly curated gift shop), and Rondinara. Each had its own distinct personality: water that somehow managed to be blue, bluer, and bluest; some blissfully serene and unpopulated, others lively with big Italian families tucked under umbrellas and shade-making pine trees. We chartered a boat one day to explore Sardinia and swim through the impossibly blue nooks and crannies of the La Maddalena archipelago. Despite some unexpectedly rough, windswept seas on the ride home, there was something undeniably fun about eating lunch and dinner in two different countries within the span of a single day. As for where we had lunch in Sardinia, let’s just say I’m declining to share the recommendation. Not out of gatekeeping, but out of public service. It was, by a wide margin, the most offensively expensive meal of our lives—and food-wise, the least memorable. The bill was so jaw-dropping that we briefly considered washing the dishes for the rest of the day and/or forwarding the check to the friend who recommended the restaurant. 

Chez Ange is technically a restaurant, but I’d argue the food is beside the point. It’s the chaise lounges planted on the white sand of Rondinara Bay, the tranquil turquoise water a few steps away, and the luxury of ordering a Hugo spritz and deciding there’s really no reason to move for the rest of the afternoon. You can even arrive by boat, which tells you pretty much everything you need to know. Walk Santa Giulia Bay’s long, curved beach (about 40 minutes one way) and you’ll pass an array of seaside restaurants—Plage du Moby Dick and Club Trois Deux for loungers, lunch, DJ-spun tunes, and a bit of a scene, plus enough water activities to keep you busy till sunset. Or do what we did: keep walking until an empty patch of white sand calls your name, plant a towel shaded by a big umbrella pine, and peace out.

The books we read…  Mar: London Falling, The Plunge, Coco: The Correspondent 

The playlist on repeat…

LCD Soundsystem

The Blaze (EYES)

Houses

Blood Orange

What I packed… A carry-on full of bikinis, feather-light TWP button-downs, Reformation shorts, Doen dresses, Chan Luu sarongs and cover-ups, flowy Natalie Martin sets. Plus walk-everywhere flip flops in three colors!  Nothing dressy or overly wrought whatsoever.

A thing or two I learned… The roads are not for the faint of heart. They’re impossibly winding, often just wide enough for two cars that really shouldn’t be passing each other, yet somehow everyone makes it work. I was so glad we rented a small car! The sea has moods. One beach can be perfectly calm while another, just 20 minutes away, is wildly rough. Same goes for the wind! Oh, and the chocolate bar assortment at SPAR makes Erewhon look like child’s play. 

The best thing I’m bringing home… I picked up some signature Corsican myrtle and clementine preserves from Domaine Cappa to give as gifts. Less obvious than fig jam—and very breakfast-at-the-villa decadent.