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This Franciscan convent, in ruins, organised according to a regular U-shaped plan, is composed of a church, a bell tower and the conventual buildings. Built in the 17th century and remodelled in the 18th century, it hosted many popular political assemblies during the "Corsican revolutions" (1729-1769). The convent is listed as a Historic Monument.

This conventual complex, now in ruins, is organised in a regular U-shaped plan. The church, to the north, has an elongated plan (33 m by 11 m) and consists of a single nave ending in a deep choir. A four-storey bell tower is attached to it. The conventual buildings, which still stand on several levels, housed the religious cells, the refectory, the kitchen, the storerooms, etc. This Franciscan convent, built in the 17th century on the site of a primitive establishment founded in 1485, was remodelled in the mid-18th century. During the Corsican revolutions (1729-1769), it hosted many cunsulte, or popular political assemblies. In 1731, theologians, including Canon Orticoni, unanimously declared the "holy and just" character of Corsica's revolt against Genoa. In 1735, a cunsulta held on the initiative of Sebastianu Costa, Luiggi Giafferi and Ghjacintu Paoli (Pasquale's father) proclaimed the independence of Corsica, placed the Corsican people under the protection of the Virgin Mary and adopted the Dio Vi Salvi Regina as the national anthem. In September 1790, the assembly in charge of organising the new institutions of the department met there, under the presidency of Pasquale Paoli; Napoleon Bonaparte accompanied his brother Joseph, representative of Aiacciu. Disused after the French Revolution and sold as national property, the convent gradually fell into disrepair. In the 19th century, it housed a gendarmerie brigade for a few years and then a convalescent home. Due to lack of maintenance, part of the roof collapsed in 1934. During the Second World War, it was used by Italian troops as an ammunition depot. The convent was dynamited by the Germans in 1943. It has been abandoned since that date. Inside the church, the altars are badly damaged but have retained some of their polychrome painted stucco decoration, characteristic of Corsican Baroque. These stuccoes were made by Ignazio Saverio Raffalli (1717-1782), a member of a line of stucco painters from Pedicroce who were very active in Corsica in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some of the furnishings of the conventual church can be found today in various religious buildings in the Orezza region, such as the wooden statuettes (17th century ceroferous angels) in the chapel of Saint-Césaire in Pastureccia (Pedicroce) or the marble stoup in the church of E Piazzole.

Piedicroce

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