Borsigliana is a small village at about 700 m. asl, on the Apennine side of the Serchio River. The Church is dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta and is one of the oldest in the Garfagnana valley. It was enlarged and modified during the eighteenth century and it retains traces of the original structure on the left side of the facade: the lunette of the previous door, now walled up, and a lintel in sculpted sandstone, from the fifteenth century. The architrave is divided into six sections, with the Madonna with Child in the center and four saints on the sides. The figure on the left could represent the devoted person who gave it. On the other hand, the Saint in the last box on the right is referred to be Sant’Antonio Abate. The bas-relief came to light, with the fall of the plaster that covered it, only in the 1950s.

But the work that alone deserves a visit to this church is the Triptych which is located behind the main altar. Commonly in Borsigliana the work is called ancona (sacred image), which derives from the Greek-Byzantine eikòna (image) and was created in the second half of the 1400s by the Master of Borsigliana, later identified as Pietro da Talada. In the central part of the triptych we have the Madonna seated with the Child in her arms, between San Prospero on the left and San Nicola di Bari (with pomegranate in hand) on the right. The twelve Apostles are represented in the predella. On the top the archangel Gabriel, God the Father and the Virgin Mary at the moment of the announcement of the Incarnation.

INFO AND BOOKING

It is possible to visit the Church every Sunday from 10.00am to 11.00 am during the Holy Mass.

Guided tours on reservation held by Volunteers of the association Civitas Borsigliana.

Paese di Borsigliana

The Master of Borsigliana

A painter of the XV Century in Garfagnana

The Master of Borsigliana, later identified as Pietro da Talada, is a painter who worked in the second half of the 1400s between the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and the Apuan Alps.

He was born in Talada, a small village in the Emilian Apennines, in the Municipality of Busana di Reggio Emilia, a few kilometers from the ridge that marks the border with Tuscany. The places where the painter worked are borderlands par excellence. His works, all of extraordinary beauty, are found in the most remote churches of the Garfagnana: in addition to Borsigliana we remember San Rocco di Soraggio, Santa Maria Assunta in Vitoio, La Madonna del Soccorso in Corfino and the Hermitage of Capraia, then in Alta Versilia with the church of Santa Maria Assunta di Stazzema.

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