Its small bell tower contains some sculpted greenschist stones representing human heads, silhouettes of birds and quadrupeds that date from the pre-Romanesque period.

[3] The Col de Sainte-Marie is on a fracture line of the central depression oriented from the northwest to the southeast.

Southwest of the depression is the Balagne, consisting of an oceanic thrust sheet as the westernmost part of the "Eastern Alpine Corsica", which is formed of metamorphic sediments and ophiolites on a crystalline base.

He wrote, "Giacomo Santo arrived first at the church of S. Maria de Pietr´Alba with his cavalry, and at once seized the baggage of the Genoese army that was at its head.

But Brancadoro arrived at the church, had his troops halted, put them into battle, immediately regained the baggage, and the skirmish lasted a while.