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Origin and history

The church of Sainte-Marie-Majeure, located in the Haute-Ville of Bonifacio in Corsica-du-Sud, is attested as early as 1238 in the archives. Probably built in the 12th century by the Pisans, it was partially rebuilt by the Genoese, as evidenced by their coat of arms on a portal. Its bell tower, erected in the 14th century, was damaged in 1815 during a royalist gun fire after Bonifacians raised the tricolor flag. The building, Romanesque with Gothic influences, is the oldest in the city.

The west facade, in white limestone, is surmounted by a rosette and preceded by a medieval loggia, the heart of Genoese civic life. Under this loggia, a 650,000-litre tank, connected to the houses by bow-buttons, supplied the city with water, crucial during the sieges. The interior, with three naves, houses 17th-century marble altars, relics of Saint Boniface (local patron saint), and works like La Cène (XVIII century) by Saverio Farinole.

Ranked a historic monument in 1982, the church underwent major restorations between 1984 and 2014, regaining its original characteristics, including the rosace and the bell tower bays. The loggia, rebuilt in 1872, preserves its stone arches and its visible structure. The semi-circular apsides and arches on cross of warheads illustrate its Pisan-Genoese architectural heritage.

In the Middle Ages, the loggia served as a place of justice and assembly for the notables, while the cistern ensured the water autonomy of the city. The church, originally under Genoese jurisdiction, became in the 16th century the seat of Bonifacio's pieve, detached from Ajaccio. His religious and political role made him a symbol of local resistance, as in 1815 during the Napoleonic episode.

The lateral chapels, like that of Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel (1756) carved by Giulio Martinetti, reflect the artistic enrichment of the 17th and 18th centuries. The bell tower, 25 meters high, mixes Romanesque and Gothic styles, with an 18th century coronation. The foothills added between the 15th and 18th centuries stabilize its structure, threatened by a shift to the south.

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