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The austere facade of this oratory hides one of the most somptuous decors in the city.

Dedicated to the Annunciation, the oratory of the confraternity of the Holy Cross was built in 1543 on a site belonging to Saint John Lateran (the Pope’s cathedral). In 1600, the structure was rebuilt with the size it still has today. The interior houses the chapel of the Holy Crucifix of Miracles discovered in 1428 drifting on the sea, according to the legend, by two fishermen. The rich original decoration on the walls and the ceilings must have been almost entirely restored during the 18th century, after the vaults had been seriously damaged in 1745 by the bombardments of the English fleet. The decoration in gilded stucco, was made between 1758 and 1775 by artists who were originally Ligurian and Corsican. The ornaments they made derive from sumptuous aesthetics akin the the Genoese barocchetto and the French rocaille. The retable of the great altar, representing the Annunciation, the work of Giovanni Bilivert, a Florentine artist, dates from 1633. A glass cabinet exhibits the group of a procession in polychrome wood, made in 1804-1805 by the sculptor Luigi Grisciella. Prosper Mérimée, who visited the building in 1839, wrote that Sainte Croix had "a certain air of grandeur, as everything that appears to be rich and costly". The confraternity of The Holy Cross, which managed the Genoese hospice of Saint Nicholas, is the oldest in Bastia. The church was listed as a Historical Monument in 1931.

Bastia

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