The Ghjunsani valley groups four villages facing one another on the banks of the river Tartagine. Nestling in an amphitheatre of lofty peaks and unspoilt nature, Vallica, Olmi-Cappella, Mausoleo and Pioggiola have barely more than 170 inhabitants but atmosphere in great abundance. Fair-coloured stone, a miniature Baroque church, century-old chestnut trees and holm oaks, a little cemetery invaded by poppies, a flight of jays or of kites, the braying of a donkey or the ringing of cow bells: imagine all this and you're in a Ghjunsani village. Only an hour's ride from Calvi, this valley is the ultimate getaway.

Perhaps the best moment here is dusk when all earth's fragrances rise and the cool air returns. It's time to enjoy a Corsican supper. Tuck into figatellu*, lonzu**, coppa, cheeses and fig preserve; treat yourself to a chestnut liqueur or a glass of the local spirit flavoured with wild myrtle! Outside, admire the twinkling stars in all their splendour.

In this ancient pieve (parish), human presence goes back to at least the Neolithic Age - Mausoleo is said to be the valley's oldest village (3rd century BC).
This Corsican agro-pastoral civilisation has been scythed by rural desertification but still abounds in traces and vestiges, the keys to this lost world being held by the village elders. Based on two pillars, the cycle of seasons and the religious calendar, this community of craftsmen, shepherds and farmers lived together on good terms. Elders like Antoine Lipreti the last miller, like the last goatherd to have accomplished on foot in 1997 the transhumance from the Asco valley, or like the amiable monsieur Fabiani mayor of Mausoleo, will tell you all about the local traditions. As for Mr Massiani, the former school teacher at Pioggiola, he is sucessfully working to safeguard the memory and identity of these villages - particularly as part of the Confrérie de San Parteu. Wearing a penitent's white alb and a garnet-coloured cloak, these laymen linked to the Catholic church are restoring religious buildings, participate in patronal festivities and help the needy. Such brotherhoods (housed in the small buildings which very often adjoin the churches) maintain the tradition of polyphonic singing symbolic of the revival of Corsican identity.

© G. Rouzeau / ViaMichelin An emblem of the Ghjunsani valley: the two-floor church tower of Eglise St-Nicolas at Olmi-Cappella.

At the crossing of all the roads and tracks coming from Belgodère, Asco, Castifao and Olmi-Capella is situated Vallica (21 souls) and its infinite panorama. On its solitary mound graced by holm oaks, Vallica enjoys perhaps the best view of the mountains, the Aiguilles de Popolasca, Monte Padro and Monte Corona...
Olmi-Cappella, the largest village, boasts a charming Baroque church, St-Nicolas (17th century), where Pascal Paoli the defender of Corsica against the French was honoured with a Te Deum when he passed here in 1790. The little cabinet organ dating back to 1808 was restored in 1986 and can be heard especially on Saint-Roch's day, the 16th of August. The Battaglini building, an enormous block rising in the middle of the village, is home to ARIA - Association des Rencontres Internationales Artistiques and its theatrical productions. Squares, fountains, a bread oven, and the Neolithic site of the nearby Altiani hamlet form part of a visit to Olmi-Cappella which can be concluded by a detour to the Bar des Amis for a thirst-quenching glass of chestnut beer with a canistrelli*** from Casanova's.
Covered with pines, chestnut trees, holm oaks and durmast oaks, Pioggiola is a straggly village of four hamlets (Calchisaiti, Tombolaccie, Bornolaccie, Pioggiola and Forcili). The little church Santa Maria Assunta, with its Romnesque chevet and its oversized Baroque facade appears suspended between earth and sky as you go round a bend in the road. It houses a little gem: an organ crafted by Anton Pietro Saladini in 1844. Each year on 11th May, Saint-Pancrace's day, pilgrims from all the Balagne region come to pay homage to the shrine that heals. Pioggiola caters for guests at the hotel A Tramula and at the Auberge de l'Aghjola which also serve copious snacks. For inventive cuisine there is the restaurant La Tornadia, which uses the best of Corsican produce: mead, Cervione hazelnuts, chestnut flour.
Cut into two by a strip of granite (topped by a famous shaky stone), Mausoleo, is the last hamlet before the state forest of Tartagine-Melaja. Planted with chestnut trees, holm oaks, pines, and Laricio pines, probably exploited by the Carthaginians (hence its name), this forest is a marvellous sanctuary for walks and refreshing riverside rest.

* Smoked sausage made with kidneys, heart and liver.
** Cooked pork meat made of fillet pork
*** Cake made of almonds and hazelnuts, flavoured with aniseed.