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Origin and history

The Sainte-Catherine convent in Sisco has its origins in an oratory whose foundations could date back to the 12th century. In 1355, sailors in distress deposited a crate of relics in thank you for their rescue, promising to offer them to the first church met. This event attracted many pilgrims, encouraging the inhabitants to build a larger, pisan-style church, consecrated in 1469. An underground chapel, accessible by stairs, housed the relics under the choir.

In the 16th century, a tower was added to house priests and guards protecting the site of Moorish incursions. The relics, originally preserved in a chapel dedicated to Saint Nicholas, were transferred in 1443 to a new adjacent sanctuary. Faced with barbaric threats, they were moved in 1443 to the safer Saint Martin parish church. The convent passed to the Augustins at the end of the sixteenth century, then to the Servants of Mary after 1674, before being definitively abandoned in 1792 after the Revolution.

The original chapel of Saint-Nicolas, in ruins, was restored in the 1950s. Conventual buildings, now private, have been converted into housing, while the old church belongs to the commune. A medieval hospital, once adjacent, has disappeared. Historical sources mention the works of Pierre Lhostis and Geneviève Moracchini-Mazel, as well as studies on the Servites of Mary in Corsica.

The site, partially protected since 1957, includes elements classified (chapel) and listed (conventual buildings). Its architecture reflects the pisane influences and defensive adaptations associated with Moorish raids. The coastal location of Sisco explains its strategic and religious role in Corsican history.

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