Pieve di Sant'Andrea

The Pieve di Sant'Andrea is one of Sarzana's earliest religious buildings. Its later barrel-vaulted hall stands above remains of an older church, making successive phases of construction central to its character.

Why it matters

The pieve connects Sarzana with the medieval Diocese of Luni. Bishop Gotifredo held a synod here in 1137, and a papal bull of 1153 identified it as a baptismal church. Its religious role continued after the episcopal seat transferred from Luni to Sarzana in 1201.

What to notice

The sixteenth-century Carrara marble portal has caryatid figures and the eight-pointed sidus, associated with the town elders. Inside, the decagonal marble font is attributed to Giovanni Morello, with a wooden cover by Giulio Giannozzi. Domenico Fiasella's Vocation of Saints James and John belongs to the church's artistic patrimony. Below the later hall, remains of the earlier three-aisled plan, tomb slabs and traces of a probable bell-founding furnace preserve its archaeological history.

Context and history

The church's origins are traced to the tenth and eleventh centuries, with later Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance phases. In 1579 Maestro Giacomino restructured the interior as a single vaulted hall. Twentieth-century restorations and excavations revealed earlier fabric and the lower level, showing how the later building incorporated rather than entirely erased its predecessors.