II.

Economy

Farming and manufacturing exist on a limited scale in Corsica. Grapes, wheat, olives, vegetables, and citrus fruit are cultivated; goats and sheep are raised; and cheese is produced. The forests, which have been greatly depleted, still supply chestnuts, lumber, and cork. Other industries of the island are fishing, wine making, mining of antimony and asbestos, quarrying of granite and marble, and the preparation of tannic acid.

Although politically a part of France, Corsica has had close ties with Italy. As in Sicily and other parts of Italy, Corsica was long noted for the practice of the vendetta, a blood feud between families or clans. Blood feuds are no longer common, but they have not been stopped in the less accessible parts of the island, where heavy undergrowth, known as maquis, provides natural hiding places.