Chiesa Abbaziale di Santa Maria Assunta (Abbey Church of Santa Maria Assunta), La Spezia

The abbey church of Santa Maria Assunta is an important place of Catholic worship in La Spezia, former pro-cathedral from 1929 to 1975, which stands in the historic city centre, in Piazza Giulio Beverini. The church is divided into large naves punctuated by columns and two smaller naves, which flow into the two raised chapels, which flank the presbytery: the chapel of the Misericordia on the right, that of the Immaculate Conception on the left. Furthermore, on the right side there is the chapel of the Sacred Heart while on the left the other two chapels of the Crucifix and of San Giuseppe (who is also the patron saint of the city). The roof of the temple is vaulted with gray stone ribs on light yellow plaster. Numerous works of art from the churches suppressed and demolished between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century are displayed on the walls to make room for the "new city" and its roads (such as the church of Sant'Antonio which stood nearby of the current headquarters of the Bank of Italy) or because they are included within the perimeter of the military arsenal being built (such as the convent of San Francesco ). In fact, the large canvas (dated 1642 ) representing the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes by Giovan Battista Casone (1609-1681), located on the counter-façade, comes from the refectory of the convent. The ancient baroque façade, divided by pilasters, was salient with a central tympanum, curvilinear moldings on the sides and a marble rosette. The three access portals were surmounted by marble lunettes. The original facade was destroyed during the last war and was rebuilt after the war with a new facade with five backgrounds of which the three central ones are salient. The facing has horizontal bands of colored marble and a central splayed oculus in place of the ancient marble rose window. Above the three splayed entrance portals there are as many marble lunettes, the work of Angiolo Del Santo, which from left to right respectively depict: The transport of the remains of San Terenzio di Luni, the Assumption of Mary, San Venerio chasing away the dragon. The central bronze portal of the church has taken the name of Porta della Misericordia. Work by the sculptor Guglielmo Carro, after a long gestation it was inaugurated in 1999 and is composed of eight bas-relief panels depicting the seven works of mercy and Pope John Paul II in prayer.

The Church of S. Maria was built as an independent parish in 1434. It was built in Gothic style after the separation from Marinasco in the place where the previous church was, of which part was used.
The new large church, with three naves, was renovated and embellished several times over time. The works carried out at the beginning of this century by the architect deserve particular mention. D'Orsara and those completed before and after the great war (1940-45), by the Abbot Monsignor Giovanni Battista Cafferata, who rebuilt and extended it after the serious wounds of the war. Until the new Cathedral of Christ the King is built, by disposition of the Bull “Universi Dominici gregis cura” (12 January 1929) the abbey and parish church of S. Maria Assunta “pro Ecclesia Cathedrali habeatur et retineatur”.

Being located right in the city center, all you need to do is reach Piazza Beverini to find yourself in front of the façade of the place of worship, a façade which, in its original layout, was destroyed during the Second World War and which was rebuilt at a later time with a new facade five backgrounds of which the three central ones are salient. The history of the Abbey is very troubled, especially in the first half of the 1400s, a period of bloody wars, where it was demolished out of fear that the leader, in the service of the Duke of Milan, Piccinino, could use it to attack the city walls. Its reconstruction took place in 1443 on the same spot, enlarging its interior, and was then consecrated in 1471. Speaking of entrances, we find three entrances decorated with a marble crescent above the door which, from left to right, depict the transport of the remains of San Terenzio di Luni, the Assumption of Mary and San Venerio chasing away the dragon. ***PH***