THE CHURCHES

The Saint Jean-Baptiste presents an oblong plan and a single nave, covered with exposed wooden trusses; it ends in a semicircular apse with apsidal basin. Built in small- or medium-size grey granite blocks, it is covered with a roof in tortoiseshell slates. The edifice is crowned by Lombard bands adorned with geometric, animal and vegetal motifs. Once, the Saint Jean-Baptiste was decorated with twenty-five polychrome ceramic bowls, by now missing. Its free-standing bell tower is provided with a pyramidal roof, also made in tortoiseshell slates.

Ancient pieve of Carbini, Saint Jean-Baptiste was in all probability built during the first quarter of the 12th century upon the ruins of an older church, as confirmed by the vestiges of an apse found in the course of excavation works. It carried out its function as the main church of the pieve until the end of the 16th century at least, as stated by a report by Monsignor Mascardi, in 1589, related to his apostolic visit. The bishop also reported the occurrence of the ruins of a second church, San Quilico, about one metre distant from the Saint Jean-Baptiste.

The edifice underwent a number of restoration works during the 19th century, hardly datable based on the available documentation. Classified as Historic Monument in 1886, it underwent significant renovation works, along with the bell tower. New interventions would take place again in 1951 and 1994.

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.