Anchorage

Étang De Diana

Shelter: NW, N, NE
Seabed: sand
Anchoring: Allowed

Brackish coastal lagoon on the east coast of Corsica, north of Aléria, connected to the Tyrrhenian Sea by a narrow channel.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Do not attempt to enter or anchor in the lagoon itself: the channel is dredged only by the shellfish company that works the water, it dries to 20 to 50 cm or closes behind a sandbar out of season, and the basin is private. Anchor instead outside, in front of the entrance and north of the Genoese tower, on sand in 4 to 5 m with good holding. The spot is very open and rolls with any swell, and the ferries passing offshore send in a wash. Shelter is limited to NW through N to NE, the fair-weather pattern on this coast.

Practical

No facilities. The lagoon is private shellfish-farming water, marked with keep-out signs, and only a small dinghy ramp near the Roman tower gives access ashore. The nearest harbours are Port Taverna, 11.8 nm to the N, and Solenzara, 18.3 nm to the S.

Ashore

The Riva Bella resort north along the beach has a beachfront restaurant serving wood-oven pizza at reasonable prices, with live music on some evenings, while the beach itself stays quiet. The lagoon sits next to the Roman site of Aléria, founded as Alalia by Phocaean Greeks in the 6th century BC and later the main Roman city of Corsica. The archaeological museum Jérôme Carcopino, housed in the Fort de Matra above the site, is about 3 km from the south shore of the lagoon. Oysters from the Étang de Diana have been farmed since Roman times and are still sold at producers on the lagoon shore.

History

Aléria, on the hill above the lagoon, was the Phocaean colony of Alalia from about 565 BC and became the Roman capital of Corsica after the Punic Wars. The lagoon itself was already used as a sheltered harbour in antiquity, and Roman-era oyster shells have been found in the archaeological strata of the site.