The archaeological site
Attached to the majestic Romanesque church of A Canonica, the archaeological site of Mariana transports you to an ancient quarter and Corsica's first cathedral.
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The archaeological park
The Mariana archaeological site extends over nearly 4 hectares acquired by the City of Lucciana. This archaeological reserve includes two remarkable Romanesque churches, Santa Maria Assunta known as A Canonica, and San Parteo, built at the beginning of the 12th century under the guidance of the Archbishop of Pisa. The ancient city of Mariana is still mainly buried, its exploration to be carried out gradually by archaeologists.
Near the A Canonica church, intertwined traces bear witness to the history of Mariana from antiquity to the Middle Ages. An ancient street running east-west defines a residential, artisanal and commercial district. The remains of the first cathedral built in Corsica at the end of the 4th/beginning of the 5th century hide those of an ancient domus - a luxurious residence - while the ruins of the medieval episcopal palace appear here and there.
Site map
After visiting the museum's permanent route, you'll know how to make sense of the walls and floors, going from one era to another.During the archaeologists' investigations, the remains discovered are studied and integrated into the archaeological park, which continues to extend from the river to the museum.
The remains of an ancient quarter
Mariana, the colony of Marius
The ancient city of Mariana was founded by veterans of General Caius Marius, sent to found the first Roman colony in Corsica, in the early years of the 1st century BC. Located in one of the largest plains on the island, Mariana prospered thanks to the agricultural exploitation of the plain and trade with the rest of the Romanised Mediterranean world. Its role as a port is fully attested, despite the absence of tangible traces to reproduce the location of a port. In Biguglia Lagoon, on the coastline or on the banks of the Golo River, there are multiple hypotheses. The city itself was located on a small natural terrace overlooking the river. Only a small part has been explored by archaeological excavation, but the various archaeological surveys carried out allow us to restore its limits and the orthogonal framework, main axes, probable location of a civic centre and several residential blocks. Covering a total area of nearly 18 hectares, only the district located on the southern edge of the agglomeration can be visited today.
A craft and commercial district
Located as close as possible to the river, a probable navigation route, this district was organised around a street running east-west, called a decumanus, lined with porticoes allowing onlookers to walk in the shade or sheltered from the weather. Numerous shops have been identified, often organised into two rooms: the actual shop itself and a rear shop intended for craft activities or storage. Some were arranged as outbuildings of wealthy townhouses, others could provide the ground floor of more basic buildings where the residential part could be relegated to the upstairs floor. Finally, a market - macellum - organised around a courtyard with portico, has been identified.
Comfortable, luxurious houses
In this district developed from the founding of the Roman colony, sumptuous townhouses also appear. To the north of the street, one such domus still extends under the Canonica: only the entrance, indicated by two columns, the vestibulum (vestibule) and taberna (open-fronted shop) are still visible today. A second domus, on the ruins of which the early Christian basilica was built, has been partially explored. It revealed in particular a splendid mosaic and private baths testifying to the sumptuous decorations used and the comfort of the owners. These remains have been reburied to better protect and preserve them for future generations.
The sanctuary of Mithra
In 2017, the RD 107 road diversion project prompted Inrap to carry out preventative archaeological excavations, having unearthed a religious building unique in Corsica: a mithraeum, a temple dedicated to the god Mithra. While this discovery was exceptional, the remains have since been reburied pending completion of the development project. The archaeological operation, itself destructive, was carried out for documentation and not heritage purposes. More resources on the Inrap website: A sanctuary dedicated to the god Mithra discovered in Corsica Corsica: from the cult of Mithra to the first Christians Mithra, are you there?
At the gates of Mariana, the San Parteo site
A landscape marked by 2000 years of history
The Marana Plain, where the Roman colony settled in the 1st century BC, is deeply marked by the traces of this human occupation over more than two millennia. Outside the current archaeological site, the remains of the ancient past of Mariana rise up: here, the ruins of a small funerary building at the gates to the city, there, the remains of a thermal building. Further on, at a place called Palazzetto to the west of the site, a mausoleum stands proudly at the side of the road. Dating from the 1st or 2nd century AD and reused in the Middle Ages and modern times, the monument reveals the location of Roman funerary areas outside the ancient city and continued occupation of these monuments.
San Parteo, from ancient funerary area to Romanesque church
500 m west of the archaeological site, the Romanesque church of San Parteo stood near a meander in the Golo, outside the restored enclosure of the ancient city. Emblematic of the history of Mariana, this sector covered all periods. The site was already occupied during the time of the Roman colony: it could be part of the vast necropolis of Palazzetto-Murotondo, located to the west of the city on one of its main access roads. Some tombs, prior to the first paleochristian developments, could date from the ancient period. In the 5th century, shortly after the construction of the urban early Christian cathedral, a first church was erected there. This had a simple plan: a single nave 21 m long, ending in an apse. About twenty tombs were located as close as possible to the holy place, inside or out, probably between the 5th and 7th centuries. From this period, only the levelled foundations of the west and south walls of the church and a few tombs are visible, the digging or architecture of which can still be seen. A new church was built in the 12th century, parallel to the Canonica site. An archive document dated 1115 mentions its dedication: San Parteo, traditionally considered one of the first bishops of Mariana.
The largest single nave church in Corsica
The religious building, rebuilt on the foundations of the early Christian building, adopted a plan with a single nave, equipped with a vast axial apse and two vaulted side chapels. Soberer than at the Canonica, the architectural ornaments are concentrated on the exterior facades. The apse is magnified by fine chiselled arcades resting on columns crowned with marble capitals. The dimensions of the building, almost 22 m long, are exceptional for such a suburban church, and demonstrate the importance conferred on it. They could be explained by the desire to glorify an ancient sanctuary, or to exalt the cult of relics, perhaps those of Parteo himself.
Some key dates