Pieve di Santa Maria a Loppia

The Pieve of Santa Maria a Loppia is an early medieval parish church below Barga, with a Romanesque structure and furnishings from later centuries.

Why it matters

The pieve was the mother church of the valley community from which Barga developed. Its early documentary history and architectural layers preserve the changing religious geography of the Serchio valley.

What to notice

The church has a Latin-cross plan with three naves, a raised transept and a semicircular apse. Its facade combines older sandstone with later squared stonework and hanging arches. Romanesque capitals, a fourteenth-century Madonna and Child, later paintings and a marble pulpit by Andrea Baratta reflect the church's successive periods. A baptismal font returned from Barga in 1621 is also preserved here.

Context and history

A church at Loppia is documented in 764. The present structure reflects rebuilding and enlargement during the eleventh and twelfth centuries; it was consecrated in 1058 by Anselmo da Baggio, the future Pope Alexander II. Loppia's pieve once administered many churches on the left bank of the Serchio. Conflict in the thirteenth century damaged the settlement and led to the baptismal font being moved to Barga. The church later fell into disuse and was rebuilt in the sixteenth century. Earthquakes in 1640 and 1920 damaged the structure and bell tower. The parish passed from the Diocese of Lucca to the Diocese of Pisa in 1789.