Parish Church of Sant'Andrea di Gattaiola

A few kilometers from the walls of Lucca and at the foot of Monte Pisano, in the quiet village of Gattaiola, immersed in the green countryside and surrounded by rolling hills covered with olive groves and vineyards, lies the parish church of Sant'Andrea.

Beyond the gate that opens in the wall of a country villa, there is the Romanesque parish church of Sant'Andrea di Gattaiola with its bell tower. Next to the church is a cypress tree and all around is a meadow.

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The church was rebuilt in the 12th century over a smaller, earlier 8th-century building, which corresponds to the current left nave. The central portal features a reused jamb capital decorated with typical early medieval features.

In Romanesque style, simple and austere, the church is built with squared white limestone blocks. Next to it is the rectory, originally a 15th-century villa.

Inside, three naves separated by columns with stylised Corinthian capitals and a valuable work, a 1651 painting, the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament by the Lucca painter Pietro Paolini, which depicts Saints Charles Borromeo and Felix of Cantalice in Eucharistic adoration in front of a monstrance.

Itinera Romanica (Romanesque itineraries)

Today the church is an important stop on one of the many Romanesque itineraries that characterize the Upper Tyrrhenian area, between Italy and France.

Nature, historical, and cultural itineraries that pass through small hilltop villages and rural areas along paths and ancient trails, where you encounter minor religious architecture to be rediscovered and enhanced, such as churches, basilicas, parish churches, and chapels.

On the site of the Church of Sant'Andrea Apostolo, a small religious building was erected as early as the 8th century. An expansion in 1170 gave the structure its current basilica plan, with three naves and an apse; a structure reminiscent of Lombard-Romanesque architecture. The various construction phases are evident on the façade: the old building corresponds to the left nave, and a capital decorated with early medieval characters has been reused in the central portal.

The interior is divided into three naves separated by columns supporting round arches, with Corinthian capitals enriched with stylised acanthus leaves.

Externally, the facade has a salient structure and is made of squared blocks of white limestone.