History and heritage

Santa Lucia di Mercoriu is a village built on a rocky spur, at an average altitude of 800 m, probably from the XVI^e century. The buildings are concentrated around the current parish church of Santa Lucia, built in 1842. The northern quarter, " at the top » was the village of notables. It includes many large dwellings called "notable houses", Sgiò, in good condition, still maintained and inhabited during several periods of the year. All the roads to the south of the square have recent paving. Once a populated village, its inhabitants left it at the end of the Second World War. Dominating there is a small square called " Piazza in Ghjesa ", the town hall whose premises are housed in the former chapel of the Sainte-Croix brotherhood and the village hall just below. The small square is decorated with a fountain (square fountain) composed on one side of a basin and on the other of a drinking basin, with copper gargoyles. This fountain, built in 1895, bears engraved recognition to the mayor of the time, Zuccarelli and his deputy Galvani. Borta, a former hamlet now a district, is the small chapel of the Annunciation.

Santa-Lucia-di-Mercoriu is made up of the main village which dominates the Tavignano valley and 3 hamlets, Pian di Vallu, Pughjolu, Ghjelsa.

Today, the land is mostly covered with scrubland, except for those in Fiuminale where agro-pastoral activity still exists. The houses are mostly uninhabited, especially in the village itself. During our inventory, we were able to see that the highest part of the village was the "most recent" and this is where most of the large families lived, such as the Tiberi, Fiuconi, Galvani and later the Zuccarelli.

The lower part of the village of Pian di Vallu is older and consists of small houses that once had flat roofs. The oldest part seems to be the old hamlet of Borta, now a district, where only a few ruins and lintels of more than imposing size remain. For the rest, the municipality is divided into different areas of occupation in the plains (fiuminale) where there are many wine presses (according to the inhabitants several have been destroyed), approaching the village we find the old gardens where some sheds with tuff roofs remain.

Still near the village, there are olive groves (the still existing oil mill is located in the village), above the village there are some chestnut trees and drying sheds still testify to this activity. The rest of the cultivated land, about 70%, was sown with wheat as evidenced by a good number of wheat fields present throughout almost the entire territory, even in the mountains.

In addition, the village had a shoe maker, also called "scarparu" in Corsican, and blacksmiths: moreover, we found a forge preserved by the owners in its original state, in the hamlet of Pian di Vallu where according to oral tradition, the inhabitants of Boziu came to have their horses shod.

• Three oil mills in Pian di Vallu (2) and Mulinu Biancu.
• An oil mill said the friend of the redhead.
• A wine press in Vincinacce.
• Four chestnut drying rooms (e Ceppe, Pian di Vallu (2) and San Tomè).
• Eight agricultural sheds in the southern lands.
• Three bread ovens (in Cima, Pian di Vallu and Vincinacce).
• A forge in Pian di Vallu.
• Three fountains, a wash house.