There is one thing we will not hand over to the platforms: the welcome. Not the formality of handing over keys — the real sense of being received somewhere. That is why, on every arrival, we leave a basket on the villa table. Two bottles, chosen from people we know personally, a few minutes from the hamlet.
Two products, not ten
We could have filled the basket. Charcuterie, cheese, jam, honey, olive oil, canistrelli — the full “Corsican hamper” you find in every hotel on the island. We chose the opposite: two products, and two stories we can actually tell.
Because nobody finishes an over-full basket. And because what we want to pass on is not a quantity but a direction. These two bottles tell you where to go next: to Solenne and Christian at San Gavino di Carbini, to the Mizael family on the hills of Antisanti.
The basket waiting for you when you arrive at the villa.
“A welcome basket is not a gift — it is a doorway. You open the villa, you open the basket, and the holiday has already begun.”
— Logbook
Gialla lemonade — Corsican bubbles
It began in 2020, over drinks between friends. Solenne and Christian De Luca — our neighbours in Southern Corsica — had a simple idea: to recover the taste of childhood, of real lemonade, with nothing artificial and no preservatives.
They set up their workshop in San Gavino di Carbini, tried batch after batch, looking for the balance between sharpness and freshness. The result is Gialla: a wholly natural artisanal lemonade, flavoured with the maquis and Corsican citrus. Less sugar, finer bubbles, and a scent of the island.
The Gialla lemonade flavours — the maquis, bottled.
What we like about Gialla is how genuine the whole thing is. No large factory, no industrial formula — two people putting the flavours of their island into a bottle. Our guests often leave with a few bottles at the end of their stay. That is the best sign there is.
Don Pasquale rosé — Domaine Villa Angeli
On the hills above the Roman site of Aléria, on the island's east coast, the vines of Domaine Villa Angeli sink their roots into soil steeped in history. Guy Mizael and his brothers took over the estate and brought it back to life — more than ten years of restructuring the vineyard. Today it is a family business: Guy, his wife Marie-Françoise, and their daughters Caroline and Sabrina.
The vines of Domaine Villa Angeli, AOC Corse, on the lower slopes of the Tavignano valley.
It is the Don Pasquale rosé that you will find in your basket. A blend of Sciaccarellu, Cinsault and Grenache, hand-harvested and direct-pressed. Very pale in the glass, pink sand with golden lights. On the nose: redcurrant, grapefruit, raspberry — and that note of maquis herbs you will meet again the moment you open the terrace door.
The 2021 vintage was awarded a star in the Guide Hachette des Vins. Served cool, around 8°C, it is the end-of-day aperitif — the one you drink by the pool as the heat drops.
Why these two
Gialla is today's spirit: a taste for freshness, for local invention, for people who take a chance. Villa Angeli is the deep Corsica — the vines, the family, land passed from one generation to the next.
Together they make the ideal welcome drink: a sparkling lemonade for those who do not drink alcohol, a glass of Corsican rosé for those who want to taste the terroir. Everyone joins in.
— Your welcome basket
- Artisanal Gialla lemonade — San Gavino di Carbini, Southern Corsica
- Don Pasquale rosé — Domaine Villa Angeli, AOC Corse
The basket comes with every arrival. It is in addition to what the rental already includes: bed and household linen, end-of-stay cleaning, pool maintenance and bread delivered each morning.
An allergy, a preference, a particular diet?
The basket is adaptable — tell us when you book or when you arrive if you do not drink alcohol, or have an allergy or a preference. We are happy to adjust: a second lemonade instead of the rosé, for instance.
Where to find them Gialla lemonade is stocked in several Porto-Vecchio grocers and online at limonadedegialla.com. Villa Angeli wines are at lavillaangeli.com. Two excellent things to take home in the boot.