Santa Maria a Monte | Montecalvoli

The village of Montecalvoli (Santa Maria a Monte) is located on the southern end of the Cerbaie hills, almost overlooking the Usciana stream.

The origins of its name

The name Montecalvoli derives from the hill on which it stands, devoid of vegetation and therefore ‘bald’. The village is mentioned in a document dating back to 728, when the Bishop of Lucca consecrated its church, the Church of San Giorgio di Nottuno.

For a long time, power over the castle of Montecalvoli was exercised by the bishops of Lucca, until they were defeated by the Ghibellines of Pisa. With the subsequent Florentine domination, the events of Montecalvoli followed those of Santa Maria a Monte.

Witnesses of the past

Almost entirely destroyed during the Second World War, Montecalvoli nevertheless shows important evidence of its medieval past, as well as 19th-century buildings. At the corner of one of these, one can recognise a stone carved in bas-relief from the pre-Romanesque period, with a braided motif, probably from the disappeared and previously mentioned parish church of San Giorgio di Nottuno.

Chiesa dei Santi Giorgio e Jacopo

In the village is the Church of Santi Giorgio e Jacopo, entirely rebuilt in 1830 on the site of an ancient parish church that had been demolished. The terracotta façade, which should have been covered in marble, is unfinished and has several rows of holes. The single-nave interior is flanked on the right by three chapels that do not match on the left side. The pietra serena columns and capitals come from the demolished parish church. Of interest are a 16th-century wooden crucifix in a shrine, the pietra serena ciborium in the sacristy and the baptismal font with a circular basin of ancient workmanship.