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CALENZANA

Calenzana is often overlooked by those who are in a hurry to start the GR20. Try and spend at least a night there, if not a whole day, before starting the trek. Just outside the village is the Romanesque Chapelle di Santa Restituda, burial place of a revered Corsican martyr. Santa Restituda was beheaded for her Christian faith in the year 303AD, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. Her marble sarcophagus is in the crypt of the chapel and was restored in 1951. The site has long been a place of pilgrimage, and although the chapel has been rebuilt and renovated many times, it contains some 11th-century stonework and 13th-century frescoes. The Festa di Santa Restituda takes place late in May alongside the old chapel, featuring a fairground with all the usual stalls and amusements, as well as food and drink.

The Baroque Église St Blaise stands in the middle of Calenzana, dating from 1691, although it took several years to complete. In 1732 the village rose up against the Genoese rulers of Corsica, who retaliated by sending in a force largely comprising Austrian soldiery. The villagers fought with whatever they could lay their hands on, from agricultural implements to beehives, killing some 500 troops. The soldiers were buried beside the church in a plot that became known as the Cimetière des Allemands. The church bell tower was planted there in 1862. There are other little chapels in the village, including an ancient brotherhood chapel at A Casazza, while U Pala was the ancient palace of the Bishops of Sagone.