Phare Pertusatu Muret Vieille Pierre Bonifacio

In sneakers and capBonifacio, marine city

A walk around the lighthouses

I’m not telling you anything new when I say that Bonifacio is a city of the sea. But where there’s a sea, there’s a lighthouse, and the lighthouses around Bonifacio are accessible and visible from hiking trails. In summer, you’ll need a cap, sun cream and a water bottle; in winter, a windbreaker; and all year round, good shoes, and we’re ready to set off and discover these monuments, which have set the pace of life in the Bouches de Bonifacio for a very long time, with incredible landscapes to accompany us. Camera mandatory!

Four lighthouses and trails to discover

There are four lighthouses in the Bouches de Bonifacio: Madonetta, Pertusatu, Capu di Fenu and Lavezzi, and small lights in the Goulet at the entrance to the town. Installed at strategic points in the Bouches, where they warn boats and sailors of the dangers they face, Bonifacian lighthouses and lights are an integral part of the town’s heritage. While not all of them are particularly remarkable buildings, they do tell part of the town’s history and legends, as it is at the foot of the Madonetta that sheaves are thrown into the sea on Saint Erasmus Day, the patron saint of fishermen.

Capu di Fenu, since ancient times

If you’re in the mood for a long walk, the ideal place to start is along the path linking the Hermitage of the Trinity to the Capu di Fenu lighthouse. Its location is mentioned by Ptolemy, who calls it Cap Marianon. The walk winds through lush, fragrant scrubland, punctuating the granite landscapes that carve out strange shapes, over a distance of around ten kilometers. You’ll discover the lighthouse, inaugurated in 1874, a square tower a dozen meters high, with a rather grandiose panorama, like the rest of the walk. To finish it off, you can go down to Paragan for a swim before heading back up to Trinité. Or, if you’re really brave, you can reach the city via the Strada Vecia.

Visiteur Balade Phare Fenu Crique Bonifacio

Phare Pertusatu Coucher Coleil Sunset Bonifacio

Opening onto the Mediterranean

Even today’s automated lighthouses still have the power to inspire. Perched on points as if isolated from the rest of the world, they offer an opening onto the Mediterranean, ideal for escaping the mind.

Phare Madonetta Vue Proche Mer Voilier Bonifacio

Between scrubland and cliffs, La Madonetta

Two lighthouses are visible from the town: Madonetta and Pertusatu. The former was commissioned in 1854, and saw its last keeper, Assumption Muriani, in the mid-1930s. It can be reached from the Strada Vecia footpath, which branches off to reach it by stairs dug into the white rock and recently rehabilitated by the Conservatoire du Littoral for greater safety. Watch out for the pebbles: it’s slippery! The walk offers a shady start in the scrubland, amidst baracuns – equipment sheds used by farmers – and ovens, as well as small animals and endemic and remarkable plants. From the lighthouse, there’s a breathtaking view of the cliffs and the town, not forgetting Sardinia, which looms up in front: you feel like you’re at the end of the world. You can continue your walk as far as the Fazziò cove for a swim or a picnic. A magical place!

Pertusatu, from the top of the limestone plateau

This walk starts between the Marine and the upper town. From the Saint-Roch chapel, halfway between the port and the citadel, head towards Campu Rumanilu and its dirt and stone path. Then climb and climb… Nothing difficult, and the view when you reach the limestone plateau is dazzling, allowing you to take in the town at a glance and observe the houses perched on the cliffside. You arrive at the town’s old abattoir, but the path continues, offering ever more incredible views of the Bouches de Bonifacio, the town slowly receding into the distance, Sardinia… The Pertusatu semaphore, where the guards have taken turns since 1844, stands on an 80-metre cliff.

Just below, a twenty-minute walk away, lies the beach of Saint-Antoine, with its white sand, sculpted cliffs and rocks creating a lunar landscape. The scenery alone is worth the stroll, especially as the area remains relatively uncrowded. But the must-do is undoubtedly to return to the town as the sun sets: the colors and panorama change, making the end of the walk even more sublime.

Phare Pertusatu Vegetation Vue Sardaigne Bonifacio

The trail through Lavezzu

On the island of Lavezzu, a lighthouse was built twenty years after the tragedy of the Semillante, a ship carrying soldiers to the Crimea, in 1855. The building is quite simple, resembling a small house topped by a square tower with red stripes. To see it, you’ll first have to take the boat to disembark on the island. From here, there are paths all the way around Lavezzu, the largest island in the archipelago, which is uninhabited. You’ll alternate between sandy coves and stony areas, while observing 240 species of scrubland plants, including 40 protected, rare or endemic species such as the nananthea, a daisy found only in Corsica and Sardinia. But don’t forget to follow the path: the Lavezzi are a particularly protected and guarded sanctuary. And, of course, you can’t leave any trace of your visit.

As soon as you leave the landing stage, you can head off to Cala di u grecu for a swim. Then on to Cala della chiesa, with its ancient sheepfold. To the south, Cala lazarina and l’Acharina, where you’ll find one of the two cemeteries and the lighthouse. Sardinia seems closer than ever.

Did you know?

Pertusatu is one of Corsica’s oldest lighthouses. Eleven years after it was commissioned, the Bouches de Bonifacio strait suffered a terrible shipwreck, the La Sémillante, which claimed 773 lives. A monument is dedicated to these sailors in the cemetery on Lavezzu Island, where a lighthouse was built after the tragedy.

People of the sea

No matter what walk you choose, your camera is your indispensable companion! It was mine on every hike, both to immortalize the faces after a good climb and to remember precisely these landscapes that seem to reinvent themselves according to the weather or the time of day: the lighthouses of Bonifacio tell the story of the city in a different way, reminding us that its inhabitants are a people of the sea. An extraordinarily beautiful but dangerous sea, which has its own stories to tell, dating back to ancient times. When the wind blows in the Bouches, don’t be afraid to take to the skies!

Change your point of view

Follow the advice of a guide

You can discover the lighthouses as you walk, but also from the sea, or with a guide who will tell you about the history and legends, traditions and Corsican attachment to these watchmen who guarantee the lives of sailors.