Altiani - San Giovanni Battista

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, just like neighbouring Sardinia, under the influence of the Republic of Pisa, later it belonged to Genua for centuries. In 1729 the Corsican fight for independence from Genoa began. After 26 years of struggle the independent Corsican Republic was proclaimed in 1755, but in 1769, when the island was conquered by France.

As the areas near the coast have over centuries have been threatened by attacks and raids of pirates (or Saracens or..) many old hamlets and dwellings are wide inland, high in the mountains.

The chapel San Giovanni Battista is a Romanesque building of the 10th century located next to the Genoese bridge called "Pont d'Altiani", spanning over the Tavignano river since the 14th century. The church served the parish of Rogna, but Annie Arnoux-Gabrielli, the author of "Eglises Romanes des Corse", claims that once a second building existed here, erected by monks (like the chapel), who came to the area for evangelisation. These monks provided for maintenance and security for a medieval bridge and accommodated travellers for the night.

The chapel got altered many times and seems to be locked since ages.