The Story of Ridelu

During the First Punic War, in the year 259 BC, Ercole Ricci, along with the roman army, arrived in Corsica, where he was rewarded a piece of land by Lucius Cornelius Scipio, due to his hard work in leading his soldiers.

In a spring afternoon, while Ercole was exploring that village, he found Fiora, a small Corsican merchant helper, that wanted to sell him a pair of shoes. Looking into her eyes, he felt like she deserved a much better future and, with her, his would be too. From then on, they started meeting every day in hiding at the Fango Valley.

Ercole then decided to build a two-story house. The floor upstairs would be where the couple would live. The ground floor would be dedicated to Fiora’s dream of having a café. A few years later, the Ridelu Café became one of the better known in the area due to the couple’s hospitality. At this stage, Fiora and Ercole were able to live freely with the acceptance of both the Roman and Corsican people.

After a while, the growth of the Ricci family made them move houses. On the other hand, the success of Ridelu allowed them to embrace the opportunity to adapt the upstairs floor and turn it into an inn for tourists who visit the village.

In the year 600 AC, Lorenzo Ricci, a descendant of Ercole and Fiora, decided to bulldoze the old house that had already suffered a lot of renovations inside and out. In its place, he decided to build a hotel.

The Ridelu is today considered the oldest hotel in the world, with almost 3000 years of history and many preserved elements as relics of the inn that used to be in its place.