5 – SAINTS CORNELIUS AND CYPRIAN PARISH CHURCH (ENG)

The Saints Cornelius and Cyprian Parish Church in Codiponte is one of the most significant monuments in Lunigiana. It was strategically located at the crossroads of important routes connecting the coast to the interior and northern Italy. The church stands beside the Aulella stream, in an area that was once the site of an ancient Roman village. Archaeological excavations have revealed remains attributable to a Ligurian-Apuan settlement. The pieve was first mentioned indirectly in a document from 793.

Rebuilt in the 14th century following a landslide, it maintained most of its original design with only minor modifications. The stunning pieve façade follows the salienti style and features a beautiful late-Baroque sandstone portal, possibly originating from the nearby convent of the Poor Clares. Above it, there is a bifora window and a small cross-shaped window, flanked by two buttresses—likely remnants of an ancient portico.

The central apse dates to the 12th century and is adorned with multiple hanging arches. The smaller apse was reconstructed during the most recent restorations in 1969.

The right-side wall of the pieve, facing the stream, retains elements of an ancient fortification and features a magnificent 14th-century lateral portal with an architrave decorated with three stylized heads and symbolic six-petaled daisies.

The interior consists of three naves, separated by two rows of cylindrical pillars supporting rounded arches. Particularly striking are the 12th-century capitals—six cubical ones with sculpted reliefs on all four faces, and four additional ones in the semi-columns of the counter-façade and presbytery. These capitals are a rich compendium of medieval bestiary imagery, depicting stylized symbolic figures, animals, and vegetal motifs, including the twin-tailed mermaid, the orante-telamon (praying figure as a supporting column), a rampant animal, an ithyphallic man, a horn-playing marzo (a folkloric figure), and an athlete.

The late-medieval baptismal font is on the right of the entrance, decorated with a cross and swaddled infants, which replaced the original font—of which only the base has been recovered.

Among the valuable artworks, a 15th-century polyptych can be admired, depicting the Virgin, Child, Holy Face (the famous and venerated relic from Lucca), and Saints Cornelius and Cyprian.

The original bell tower was located on the southern side of the church, discovered during the 1969 excavations, but had been demolished before the 14th century. The new bell tower dates to 1778.