| The contractor of Sainte-Lucie de Tallano
This is the situation when Prospéri calls in Dominique Bartoli, 39–year-old master mason and contractor for public works at Sainte-Lucie, known in the region as “Pulintonu”.
Jean-Dominique, commonly known as Dominique, was born in Porto-Vecchio where he learned his trade. In late 1880, he decides to try his luck in America; he leaves with his younger brother. In Argentina where work is not lacking, he joins the construction crew of the railroad. The year (1880) of the creation of the Panama Canal Company, Dominique Bartoli convinced that he's making the right decision, invests his economies in Panama Canal bonds which had been emitted by subscription to finance the digging of the canal.
Unfortunately, in February of 1889, the company declares bankruptcy and Bartoli as well as other individual subscribers are ruined. Returning to Corsica, he settles in Sainte-Lucie where he gets married in 1892. Bartoli has a vast working experience in stone-building. He has also assured major decoration projects. He has correspondents in Paris who send him catalogues and samples and he knows gold-leafing techniques. Later on, he will create a frieze to decorate the Sainte-Lucie Church using traditional methods on fresh plaster; today it is obliterated by a uniform coat of paint.
On September25, 1902, Prosperi, who may have met the Bartoli family at Port-Vecchio, establishes a certificate of guarantee stipulating that the contractor Bartoli has the capacities to accomplish the task.
As mentioned above, on October 15, Joseph Chaumié, Minister of Education and Fine Arts, delivers a decree finalizing the decision to go on with the restoration project for the sum of F / 27 598,43.
On January 24, 1903, Camille Nicolai, Mayor of Carbini, sends three documents to the Minister: the certificate of capacity for the contractor Dominique Bartoli, the justified invoice from the new contractor for the sum of F : 26 284 22- according to the approved estimate to which he had subtracted a 1% discount.
On the final tender, a note on the margin written by the Fine Arts Director indicates: “ are not included imponderables and fees concerning necessary material to be furnished by the village of Carbini following calculations and evaluations which have been included in this estimation.”
Follows the seal of a controller dated February 6 1903 with a note on the bottom of the page “ Expenses not exceeding 16 735 francs on State funding.”
The invoice of the contractor Bartoli is approved on February 14 1903.
Taking into account the normal hierarchical delays and the time needed for organization, the work probably started in June. A marginal note written by the Fine Arts Director situates the beginning of the restoration work at the end of Spring 1903.
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|  | |  | | L'entrepreneur de Tallano |  |
Dominique Bartoli (1863-1944)
à l'époque du chantier |
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| | | | Fragment de lettre de l'entrepreneur |  |
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