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Saint Mary of the Assumption in Villa Basilica

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Information

Address: Piazza Vittorio Veneto 19, 55019 Villa Basilica (LU)
Foundation: XII century
Telephone: +39 0572 43071
District/Location: Villa Basilica
District: Piana di Lucca
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The parish church of Santa Maria, built in the XIIth century upon a previous Early Medieval church, is still today the most impressive building in Villa Basilica. In this valley there were already a number of churches founded by important landowners of the area; they were later subjected to the Santa Maria. Around it a village of a certain importance grew. Particularly interesting are the decorations both on the inside and the outside of the church. The architrave and the arch of the main entrance were made of white limestone.
Piazza Vittorio Veneto, 19, 55019 Villa Basilica LU
The building preserves its XIIth century structure with a single apse and three aisles divided by a double series of seven columns with sculpted capitals showing animals and floral designs. The crypt under the presbytery shows at least two phases of construction, the first of which prior to the XII century. In the XII-XIIIth centuries a bell tower was built on the south-west corner of the building with a technique similar to that of the church, i.e. using large ashlars of so called 'macigno' sandstone, a material commonly found in the Villa Basilica region. In the Late Middle Ages a passage between the church and the newly built rectory was opened.
The latest restorations were carried out in the XXth century: among the most important we remember the one undergone under the direction of Francesco Martini when ashlars on north side of the church, façade and apse were replaced.
The first mention of a church dedicated to Santa Maria in the village of Villa Basilica dates back to Carolingian times, though we know for sure that it had become a parish church only in 1014.
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