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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Church of the Trinity and of San Giovanni d'Aregno, located at 280 meters above sea level in the village of Aregno (Haute-Corse), is a 11th century Romanesque building, inherited from the Pisan period in Corsica. It is distinguished by its location in the middle of the communal cemetery and its enigmatic carved decorations, including human and animal figures such as a bear, an ox or snakes. An allegory of knowledge, representing a man removing a thorn from his foot, adorns the gable above the entrance, a rare motif in island Romanesque art.

Classified as a historical monument in 1883, the church houses exceptional murals dated 1448 and 1458, including the Four Doctors of the Church (Saint Augustine, Saint Jerome, Saint Gregory and Saint Ambrose) and Saint Michel terrorizing the dragon. These works, made in fresco, testify to the religious and artistic importance of the site. An archaeological diagnosis carried out in 2011 in the nave allowed to deepen the knowledge about its construction and its evolution.

The village of Aregno, a former capital of the eponymous piève in Balagne, was a medieval political and judicial centre (arringu, piève court). The region, marked by genoese influences then French, preserves traces of Roman occupation, as evidenced by the remains of Balanea, an ancient city mentioned by Ptolemy and Pline the Elder. The church, a communal property, embodies this thousand-year-old heritage blending pessian, genoese and Corsican heritage.

In the Middle Ages, Aregno depended on the county of Balagne, founded in the ninth century by Roman prince Guido Savelli after the reconquest on the Saracens. The pier of Aregnu, which extended over a large part of the Balagne, included villages such as Sant'Antonino or Corbara. The religious building, with its frescoes and sculptures, reflects this turbulent history, between ecclesiastical power and territorial issues.

The restoration of architectural elements, such as the church doors in 2011 (funded by a parliamentary reserve), and the protection of murals since 1995 underline the continuing effort to preserve this heritage. Today, the Church of the Trinity and San Giovanni remains a symbol of identity for Aregno, a rural village with scattered habitat, where pastoralism and tourism coexist with this medieval legacy.

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