Santo-Pietro-di-Tenda - Saint Jean

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.

The Baroque church of "Saint-Jean" and the chapel of the "Pénitents de la Sainte-Croix" are very easy to find in the center of Santo-Pietro-di-Tenda. Thex date back to the 16th century. The church is huge for a village of a population of less than 400 - and the brotherhood of the penitents, that existed since 1592 abd within the 19th century still had 333 "confrères"got dissolved more than a century ago.


The whole complex is under restoration.