Nonza - Santa Giulia

The island of Corsica is one of the 18 regions of France. It was colonized the Carthaginians, the Greeks, the Etruscans and the Romans. After the Roman empire collapsed, Corsica got invaded by the Vandals and the Ostrogoths. For a short while the island belonged to the Byzantine Empire, then the Franks granted the island to the Pope, in the early 11th century Pisa and Genoa together freed the island from the threat of Arab invasion. The island came under the influence of the Republic of Pisa, later it belonged to Genua for centuries. In 1755 after a long fight for independence from Genoa the independent Corsican Republic was proclaimed, but in 1769, when the island was conquered by France. As the areas near the coast over centuries have been threatened by attacks and raids of pirates many old hamlets and dwellings are wide inland, high in the mountains. So most of the old churches are in the mountains and some of them are hard to find.

Nonza is located on a cliff, towering a hundred meters over the sea. Santa Giulia (corse: Santa Ghjulia) is the the center of the village. Legends tell that in 303 a girl named Guilia was martyred here. In 734 the Saracens burnt down settlement including the old sanctuary. The following church of the 9th century got replaced within the 13th century, but this church got rebuilt in classical style around 1575. It got renovated and remodeled within the 19th century.