Church of Santa Maria Assunta

The church of Santa Maria Albiano has ancient origins, so much so that it is listed in the Estimate of the Diocese of Lucca of 1260 under the hegemony of the Pieve di Monsagrati with the dedication to Santa Maria. The place of worship, built near an ancient watchtower converted into a bell tower, most likely had a rectangular plan and was small in size. During the pastoral visit of 1630 the visitor noted the precarious static conditions of the tower which was defined as 'from the middle to the top it threatens to collapse' and therefore ordered its consolidation and restoration; such work must have been carried out quickly if no reference is made to it in the report of the subsequent pastoral visit. According to what was written in the questionnaire of the pastoral visit of 1932, as part of the work on the bell tower, the opportunity was taken to also proceed with the expansion of the church. The details of this operation are not reported so it is only thanks to the analysis of the wall facings of the lateral fronts that it is possible to assume that the expansion occurred on the side of the facade. During the twentieth century the church underwent a series of small interventions such as the resurfacing of the flooring and the balustrade in 1912, the repair of the damage caused by the earthquake of 1920 in the same year and the consolidation of the ground on which the building stands to limit landslides in 1997.