Impressionistic reflections of bright bobbing boats and smart cruisers waver in the water and, day or night, a stroll along the front listening to the tinkle of rigging and the chatter drifting from tempting eating places offers unlimited pleasure. Even more French in atmosphere than the harbours of the south, Saint Florent drinks pastis, plays pétanque and offers ‘le style marin’ in its little boutiques.

“Give me the Gulf of Saint Florent and two frigates,” said Nelson, “and I will see not a single vessel leaves Marseilles or Toulon.” Today, vessels leave from all along the coast of mainland France for this popular haven west of Cap Corse. Water sports are a big draw on the sandy beach a mile outside town, while on the edge of the Agriates wilderness area lie the wonderful isolated strands of Seleccia and Loto, reachable on foot, by boat, four-wheel drive or motorbike.

The other great lure of Saint Florent is evident from the vine-covered hills of Nebbiu and Patrimonio; here are produced excellent wines (several AOCs) which you can taste and buy at growers’ mansions as well as enjoy with delicious food at rustic restaurants.

The finest white wines on the island, however, come from Cap Corse. This giant’s thumb of land has a string of beguiling little ports which once sent adventurers to the New World in search of gold. Driving round the peninsula takes at least a day – more, if you pause to look at the grand old villas bought by South American wealth. Wild mountains fleeced with woods and maquis create astonishing backdrops on a coastline of precipitous cliffs, rocky coves, sweeps of pebbles and blond sand – or steel-grey sand like the beach below Nonza. This flower-garnished slate-roofed village, which seems to have sprouted from its craggy foundations, has a Genoese tower to rival Porto’s as ‘most photographed’. Erbalunga, another gem, clings to a little jagged promontory, opal waves slapping against gaudy fishing boats. It is inevitably a haunt for artists.

South and inland from the Cap is the enchanted green wonderland of the Castagniccia, with its chestnut forests and rugged highlands. Here, legends spring as easily from the rocks as Eau d’Orezza, the island’s sparkling water. Castagniccia has been the core of resistance to invaders, and it seems apt that the great 18th-century freedom-fighter, Pasquale Paoli, was born there, in Morosaglia. His and other picturesque villages, like La Porta and Piedicroce, are full of treasures and, at any café, you only have to utter a greeting in Corsican to see sombre island faces light up. Walking is the thing. You’ll revel in the fairy-tale beauty of Castagniccia’s woods and wild flowers, waterfalls and high frosted peaks.