Invasion of Corsica (1794) the Ligurian Sea, a region of the Mediterranean bordered by Western Spain, Southern France and Northwestern Italy. Control of the island, and in particular the harbour at San Fiorenzo, can allow a naval force to exercise regional dominance over this important waterway. Corsica was for centuries a part of the Republic of Genoa, although by the mid-eighteenth century it was "de facto" independent as the Corsican Republic, led by Pasquale Paoli. Unable to contest Paoli's control of the island, the Genoese sold Corsica to the Kingdom of France in 1768, and a French invasion swiftly captured and annexed the island.
Cuisine of Corsica mainly produced in the hills of Balagne, the northwest region of the island, where a quarter of all olive trees on the island exist. Another important region for oil is the Alta Rocca, around Bonifacio: here in the village of Santa Lucia di Tallano, each year is celebrated the "Festa di l'olio novu", a yearly fair devoted to the production of the new oil. As a whole, the olive groves cover in Corsica 2,000 hectares, divided among 300 producers. The olives, which are mostly black, are not plucked manually; they fall on nets lying under old trees, while those on