THE CHURCHES

The Saint Pierre et Saint Paul presents an oblong plan, consisting of a single hall covered by a barrel vault with lunettes, ending in a semicircular apse with apsidal basin. The heterogeneity of the wall face of the western façade may suggest that it had probably suffered some considerable damage. Two massif angular buttresses and the side buttresses of the main door may have likely been added in the 18th century, when the exposed wooden trusses were replaced by the present vault. The front door is framed by two pilasters surmounted by lions – two salvaged sculptures in full relief, which adorned the church portal before its renovation. The nave side walls and the apse wall are animated by jutting pilasters and by blind arcades springing from corbels.

According to historic studies, the church of Saint Pierre et Saint Paul was probably built during the second half of the 11th century. An indenture of the Ligurian monastery of S. Bartolomeo del Fossato, dated 1384, states that the church made part of the abbey at that time, hence it did not fall within the bishopric of Sagone. On the occasion of his pastoral visit in 1587, Monsignor Mascardi underlined that the church was quite large and in a good state, with the exception of its almost crumbling gable, and that it was also a burial place. It kept its parish function until the beginning of the 19th century, when it was replaced by the present church of Saint Pierre, built at the heart of the village.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the exposed wooden trusses were replaced by the present vault and angular buttresses were added on its western façade.
Recognized as Historic Monument in 1980, the church made the object of two remarkable restoration works carried out in 1989 and 1991. 

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.