Filitosa

A farmer, Charles-Antoine Cesari, noticed the carved stones on his land in 1946 and archaeologists followed. Filitosa holds the densest group of anthropomorphic menhirs in the Mediterranean: standing stones worked into human form, some with faces, and later ones with swords and daggers cut into them, made roughly between 1500 and 1000 BC. What makes the site unusual is what happened next: the Torreans, who arrived afterwards, broke up many of the statues and used them as building material in their round stone towers, so carved faces appear embedded in walls. An olive tree said to be around a thousand years old stands in the middle.

What you actually see

• The carved menhirs - standing stones with faces, swords and daggers.
• The reused fragments - statue pieces built into later tower walls.
• The Torrean monuments - round dry-stone structures on the spur.
• The ancient olive - a tree of around a thousand years on the site.

When to go

April to October; the site closes over winter. Morning and late afternoon light reads the carvings best. It is compact and takes about an hour and a half.

Honest expectations

The carvings are weathered and some are faint. The site is small for the ticket price. Interpretation is limited without the audio guide.

Nearby

Sartene lies south; Ajaccio is north.