Romano-Pisan : In 1077, the Papacy transferred Corsica to the powerful bishop of Pisa who was decided to boot Christianity. The Pisan churches were clearly the affirmation of his power with the typical Pisan style: polychromatic systems, blind arches, vegetal patterns, modillions, intarsia inlay…Let yourself be enchanted by these gems of architecture!

Baroque : Encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church after the Council of Trent, the baroque style stepped into Corsica via Bastia. The Genoese and the populations spread it throughout the island by erecting sumptuous Baroque churches or by baroquizing the existing ones: stucco and gold decors, illusory effects, colonnades, light-and-shade, façade with great amount of tension were some of the artistic effects used to produce grandeur and to impress the visitors.

Chapels: Predominantly catholic, Corsica’s religious beliefs have been coexisting for millennia with traditional rituals and superstitions. Devotion has always been intense and many locals believe in a kind of magic. Secluded up in the mountains, overlooking valleys from a pass or hidden and surrounded by a thick maquis, a chapel is always just a few steps away …

Oratories: Involved in charity works, organizers of religious processions, brotherhoods or confraternities are very common in Corsica. Some unite people with the same profession such as fishermen and meet in oratories…In Bastia, the oratory of the Brotherhood of the Immaculate Conception or the one of the Holly Cross feature an exceptional baroque decor.

Carghjese : By the end of the XVIIIth century, the French General Marbeuf launched the building of a whole village, Carghjese, on the west coast of Corsica to offer homes to a greek colony. In the XIXth century, the Greeks built the Greek church of Saint-Spyridon of Carghjese, with among other things, a sanctuary separated from the nave by a splendid iconostasis.