THE CHURCHES

Saint Michel church has got an oblong plan consisting of a single hall, showing exposed wooden trusses and ending in a semicircular apse, with apsidal basin. The roof of the building is covered with green slates. Its polychrome facings form a decoration of contrasting green and white shades. Its western façade is adorned by three blind, round arches, resting on corbels sculpted in high-relief, featuring some quadrupeds. The façade also shows two sculpted figures at its ends: a character holding a stick and an individual wearing a long garment. The door at the centre of the façade is surmounted by a lintel with a blind tympanum. The building is completed by a bell-tower porch set against the western façade, resting on two cylindrical columns.

Saint Michel church, a supposed pieve of Bevinco, was first mentioned in 1137.  According to a few historians, the church was built in two subsequent phases, starting from the early 12th century. The construction of the nave would be followed by the addition of a bell-tower porch set against the western façade. In 1531, Monsignor Giustiniani, bishop of Nebbio, after mentioning the ‘ancient’ church described in more detail a nearby fortified village, which he named Pietra all’Aretta. Nevertheless, the relation between Saint Michel and the inhabited centre, including its function on the territory, is still quite unclear. A comparison with buildings such as the Trinité d’Aregno, a likely coeval building, may suggest that the church covered a role of pieve. In 1840, Prosper Mérimée, inspector of the Soprintendenza, remarked its good conservation state and defined it one of the finest churches in the island.

The church interior was adorned by monumental paintings dating from the 14th century, featuring an Annunciation framed by a geometric decoration. They are now in a state of ruin.

Starting from the end of the 19th century, this building underwent a number of restoration works. After his classification as Historic Monument in 1875, the renovation of the trusses and the roof in hollow tiles was carried out between 1892 and 1903. A new restoration of the roof started between 1932 and 1936, when tiles were partly replaced by slates. The bell tower was struck by lightning in 1969, but it was restored only at the beginning of the 1990’s.  The painted decoration adoring the church interior were almost totally faded at the time of Prosper Mérimée’s visit ; they were first restored in 1935. The latest restoration works, involving the edifice and its monumental paintings, date from 2008.

Coroneo Roberto, Chiese romaniche della Corsica. Architettura e scultura (XI-XIII secolo), Cagliari, 2006.
Coroneo Roberto, Architettura romanica dalla metà del mille al primo ‘300, Nuoro, 1993.
Moracchini-Mazel Geneviève, Les églises romanes de la Corse, T. 1, 2. Paris, 1967.