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Clambering up the road leading from Seravezza to Azzano, the locality of La Cappella hosts the pieve of San Martino. Facing the marble quarries of Monte Altissimo, well-known by Michelangelo, and looking onto the valley of the stream Serra, with the sea in the distance, the pieve offers one of the most evocative views of the whole upper Versilia.

Clambering up the road leading from Seravezza to Azzano, the locality of La Cappella hosts the pieve of San Martino. Facing the marble quarries of Monte Altissimo, well-known by Michelangelo, and looking onto the valley of the stream Serra, with the sea in the distance, the pieve offers one of the most evocative views of the whole upper Versilia. In ancient times, the edifice was provided with a porch (destroyed by bombings of World War II), traditionally associated to the presence of Michelangelo himself in the area, in fact made by Donato Benti in 1538. The church existence was confirmed with certainty only at the end of the 13th century, when it was granted the baptismal font, although a religious building was likely present in the area at least since the 8th century, when the place-name ‘Capelle’ was documented. Despite of the various modifications occurred throughout the centuries, the edifice shows features of monumental simplicity that mark the Romanesque architecture of Lucca. Still today, the church is sided by an oratory dedicated to the Announced Virgin, of which only the walls are still in place. Set in a slightly lowered position, it is accessible through an ancient, paved path. The pieve of S. Martino has got a three-nave, rectangular plan without a transept; it presents a quadrangular apse. The naves are divided by round-arch arcades resting on columns; the aisles are covered with groin vaults, while either the nave and the apse show a barrel vault. The 17th-century flooring in black and white panels (except for the raised choir, covered with white marble slabs) hosts a number of tombs with sculpted gravestones. Externally, the church ends without an apse; the resulting internal spaces due to the presence of the apse (inside) are occupied by the sacristy and a utility room. The façade follows the varying roof levels and faithfully reflects the internal subdivision of spaces. The result is an imposing building, whose harmony is enhanced by the smooth facing in white marble. The right arcade of the 16th-century porch is still present on the façade. The massive, free-standing bell tower is not perfectly in axis with the church on the right side of the parvis. The pieve of San Martino was subordinate to Luni diocese until 1789, when it was assigned to the diocese of Pisa. The earliest document referable with certainty to the church of S. Martino dates back to 1299; therefore, the church had already been built to such date. Indeed, in that year, local inhabitants asked Antonio, bishop of Luni, to obtain the right of baptism for the church and its independence from Vallecchia pieve, justifying the request with the actual impossibility to reach the main church in wintertime, being too distant. The place-name ‘Capelle’, indeed, already referred to this area in documents of the 8th century, confirming the existence of a worship place. In the early decades of the 16th century, the nearby quarries of Monte Altissimo were opened. The municipality donated them to the Florentine Republic; Cosimo I sent Michelangelo in the area to care for marble provisions, meant for the artist’s works to be performed in the Florentine church of San Lorenzo. Right in those years, the Florentine Donato Benti made a porch for the façade. In 1944, a bomb struck the bell tower, detaching a few blocks that partially ruined the porch beneath. Once the war was over, the inhabitants, worried about the stability of what had been left in place, had the whole edifice dismantled and the removed materials stored in an area behind the church. The only evidence of medieval fittings in the church of S. Martino is represented by a 14th-century capital with human protomes, reused as a stoup, placed next to the left side entrance. Likely contemporary, some fragments of fresco have recently emerged on the wall near the presbytery area, the supposed remains of a much more extended decoration. In 1971, the Soprintendenza of Pisa started restoration works. They included the replacement of Marseille tiles with copper slabs over the nave and the renovation of internal plasters in order to leave part of the medieval masonry uncovered; furthermore, fragments of frescoes were brought to light on that occasion. The hypothesis to reconstruct the 16th-century porch had been already put forward at the time, using the material left from the original construction, although most of the decorative elements had been robbed throughout the years. The project was thus discarded, being considered too invasive. However, a restoration is being implemented; approved by the competent Soprintendenza, it will soon be financed. Four steps have been scheduled: the first, already completed, has included the nave cover and the restoration of the parvis; the second will consolidate the roof; the third is related to the reconstruction of the porch and the last will provide a new cover to the Oratorio dell’Annunziata.

Seravezza

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