The pieve of San Paolo stands in the village of the same name in Capannori, in the province of Lucca. It is considered the oldest parish church in the area, although its founding date is unknown: according to tradition it was damaged by the Goths in the early fifth century and rebuilt by the bishop of Lucca, Saint Frediano, in the sixth. The church, bell tower and rectory were raised at least a metre above street level because of the frequent floods of the Serchio, which once split into two branches here. Altered around 1200, in the seventeenth century it gained the two side arms that give it a Latin-cross plan, and the choir.
What to see
The façade faces west and alternates bands of white marble and stone; in front is a portico with four marble columns. Under the pediment runs a blind loggia with small columns and capitals showing a workshop in the manner of Biduino; the central two-light window was walled up in 1795 so the organ could be set against it inside. The sides are crowned with small arches on corbels decorated with spiky leaves, and in the nave the jambs and lunettes of two old side doors can still be seen.
The bell tower, 28 metres high, bears the date 1246: it starts in stone, continues in brick and ends in battlements that recall its use as a defensive tower, in an area fought over by Lucca, Pisa and Florence. In 1914 a merlon, perhaps struck by lightning, fell onto the church roof. The interior now looks eighteenth-century: in 1798 an arch with plaster figures was built above the high altar.
Visiting
The five altars, originally of wood, are in marble: the high altar of 1773, that of Saint John the Evangelist of 1734 and that of Saint Andrew of 1760, both with paintings attributed to Agostino Marti. In front of the church is a two-level lawn with a marble staircase. Times should be checked with the parish.
Our editors' tip
The bell tower still has five bells rung by hand: it takes three men to set the largest one swinging.
