Saint Paolino and Saint Donato

Via San Paolino, Lucca

Puccini's family went to San Paolino's church. Giacomo Puccini created two motets called "Plaudite populi" and "Credo", dedicated to San Paolino. His fellow citizens appreciated them and Puccini did the same musical pieces in 1878 for San Paolino's party. Both pieces were included in the first performance of the 4-part Mass with orchestra on July 12^th, 1880.

Inside the church three paintings represent the city of Lucca surrounded by Roman, Medieval and Renaissance walls. The first is located on the right of the entrance: it is a painting by Amico Aspertini depicting Saint Paulin who holds the city of Lucca surrounded by medieval walls. You can see the corner towers and the limestone curtains. The second, which depicts the city in medieval times, is a painting by Baldassarre di Biagio representing the coronation of the Virgin, kept in the left transept of the church. Beyond the drawbridge, you can see the multiple towers that characterized the city at the time. Finally, in the right transept, a last painting depicting the Miracle of San Paolino in a bird's eye view from a bulwark from which you can see the San Donato door and the brick facing. On 12^th July 1664, on the occasion of the celebrations of the party of the Saint, one of the cannons placed in the square of the San Donato bulwark, which should have fired blanks, unloaded a burst of machine gun on a group of devotees who entered the city from the Porta San Donato, affecting many people who did not suffer injuries, due to the intervention of the Saint.