Immediately after Bastia, on the road to Cap Corse, the steep sides of the island approach, covered with dense vegetation. The continent seems far away. Narrow, the road winds gently along the Mediterranean before slanting towards the mountain and the hamlet of Pozzo, in Brando.
A steeple appears between the pines and cypresses. Don’t miss the sign “cappuccino” (here lived the Capuchin monks) to access the building, backing onto the church. The convent of Pozzo, built in the XVe century, is a rare address. Immediately, the gaze is captured by the magnetic view, with the swimming pool and the Island of Elba in the distance.
But in addition to this magical location, it is above all a family home that bears witness to the history of Corsica, and to history itself. Formerly a novitiate, where young people were preparing for religious life, the place was upset by the French Revolution and acquired in 1796 by an ancestor of Emmanuelle Picon (Mattei by her mother), the current owner who receives guests within its walls.
“The convent has been in the family for seven generations. When I was little, I used to come there every summer. tells the story of the woman who changed her life almost ten years ago, after a Parisian career in press relations and marketing. The survival of the house was at stake: to maintain it and pass it on to future generations, it had to be taken care of on a daily basis.
Places steeped in time
Here, it’s as if you were invited to visit friends who would have let time permeate the place. In the former monks’ refectory, with red terracotta floor tiles, a majestic supper hugs the shape of the vaulted walls. Elsewhere, it is a Christ on the cross or a Virgin visited by an angel who decorate a room with their discreet presence. We are in Corsica and Napoleon 1er appears here and there, in sculpture on a sideboard or painted on the back of very pretty earthenware plates.
But there are also plenty of books that we guess accumulated over the course of the holidays: Henri Troyat, Françoise Sagan or Hervé Bazin were read before a dip in the swimming pool or taken to the beach via the mule track, which descends to the Erbalunga marina. “You have to accompany such a house delicately. I tried to transform it as little as possible, being attentive to the spirit of the place,” assures Emmanuelle Picon.
We do not live in the convent as in a hotel, but as a guest who shares his meals with the other residents. The changing menus also tell the story of the Island of Beauty: comforting bastelle (chard and brocciu turnovers), anchovies à la bastiaise, smoked coppa, milk-fed veal, sheep’s cheese with a powerful taste, exceptional lemon jam (made at the convent itself ), honey from the maquis, exquisite canistrelli… All this is accompanied by a Ribella beer or wines from Patrimonio. This Corsican AOP produces silky reds from the Niellucio grape variety.
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