Corsica’s main exports are granite and marble, tannic acid, cork, cheese, wine, citrus fruit, olive oil and cigarettes.
Transportation:
Corsica has four international airports:
Ajaccio – Napoleon Bonaparte Airport
Bastia – Poretta Airport
Calvi – Sainte-Catherine Airport
Figari – Sud Corse Airport (near Bonifacio and Porto Vecchio in the south)
All airports are served by regional French airline Air Corsica, as well as Air France which mainly offers connections to Paris-Orly. Budget carriers such as EasyJet and Ryanair offer seasonal connections to different cities in Europe.
The island has 232 kilometres (144 miles) of metre gauge railway. The main line runs between Bastia and Ajaccio and there is a branch line from Ponte Leccia to Calvi. Chemins de Fer de la Corse (CFC) is the name of the regional rail network serving the French island of Corsica. The railroad retains the air of a friendly local railroad and is an excellent way to get around the island, for both the inhabitants and tourists.
There is a third line along the east coast that is not in use due to heavy damage during World War II. John Smith and his consortium announced their intention to invest and redevelop in 2018. There has been talk of restoration, but no progress has occurred.
Corsica is well connected to the European mainland (Italy and France) by various car ferry lines. The island’s busiest seaport is Bastia, which saw more than 2.5 million passengers in 2012. The second busiest seaport is Ajaccio, followed by L’Île-Rousse and Calvi. Propriano and Porto Vecchio in the south also have smaller ferry docks and are seasonally served from France (Marseille), while Bonifacio’s harbor is only frequented by smaller car ferries from the neighbouring island of Sardinia.
The ferry companies serving Corsica are Corsica Ferries – Sardinia Ferries (from Savona, Livorno and Piombino in Italy; Toulon and Nice in France), SNCM (from Marseille, Toulon and Nice in France), CMN – La Méridionale (from Marseille in France) and Moby Lines (from Livorno and Genoa in Italy).
Flag of Corsica:
The flag of Corsica was adopted by General of the Nation Pasquale Paoli in 1755 and was based on a traditional flag used previously. It portrays a Moor’s head in black wearing a white bandana above his eyes on a white background. Previously, the bandana covered his eyes; Pasquale Paoli wanted the bandana moved to above the eyes to symbolise the liberation of the Corsican people from the Genoese.
It was used by the Corsican Republic and fell out of usage after 1769, when France forced the island’s former masters to sell it to settle the debts contracted by Genoa with France. This was to pay the costs of the French expeditionary corps which should have helped Genoa to secure its control on Corsica; French troops put down the long-standing rebellion on the island. During this period under French rule, 1769–1789, Corsican patriots again used the version of the flag with blindfolded eyes, as a mark of protest.