Santuaire de la Santa di u Niolu (église de la Nativité)

Casamaccioli

In the church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin at Casamaccioli, an 18th-century Baroque building with three vessels and a granite bell tower, rests "A Santa", a statue of the Virgin venerated for around five centuries. Legend tells that a Neapolitan captain, caught in a storm, promised the Madonna a statue if he came through alive; saved, he had it carved in Naples and sent it to Corsica on muleback. Every village passed through wanted to keep it, but the animal stopped only at the fairground of Casamaccioli, from which nothing could make it move on: the Virgin stayed there. Every 8 September, for the Nativity, hundreds of pilgrims climb to the village for the Santa di u Niolu, celebrated with fervour in this form for more than two centuries: the confraternity carries the statue in procession to the fairground and there unwinds the Granitula, a human spiral that coils and then uncoils, a ritual suspected of having very ancient roots. Around the sanctuary is held the Niolu fair, reputed the oldest in Corsica, where the songs and poetic jousts of the shepherds ring out. It is one of the liveliest pilgrimages on the island.

Getting there : Niolu village reached by the D218 from Calacuccia (D84 Corte–Porto, via the Scala di Santa Regina); the church is in the centre of the village, Alate quarter

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound