The church of Santa Maria di Loppia just outside Barga is looking a bit worse for wear this week as part of the overhanging wooden support for the terracotta tiles in the roof is no longer overhanging …. it is now definitely pointing in a downwards direction and has dumped all of those terracotta tiles down to the ground, smashing all but one or two in the process.
Judging by the amount of grass and moss growing on that side of the church roof it looks as though that whole area facing North is in serious risk of joining its companions on the ground.
At some point a barrier was put up on the road below the back of the church to stop people from passing underneath what is still a dangerous area as more tiles could quite easily come down in a strong wind but that too has been downed and left sprawling across the tarmac.
The terrible weather of the past couple of weeks is still causing problems but something will have to be done fairly quickly to resolve the problem at Loppia otherwise damage of a more serious nature will in all probability befall the centuries old church.
The church of Santa Maria di Loppia was mentioned for the first time in the X century A.D. It lies along the road linking Fornaci to Barga, in a sparsely settled area. The building has preserved its XII century Romanesque forms with lesenes along the walls which are of two-tone stone. Its only decorated elements are the sandstone capitals on the façade, which have been seriously damaged by atmospheric agents.
During the Early Middle Ages the parish church of Santa Maria di Loppia was under the influence of the Rolandinghi, one of the most important clans in the Serchio valley; this family collected the Church’s tithes. The area controlled by the parish church was very large; in 1260, it included almost thirty religious structures. Around the end of the XIII century, it passed under the control ofGuglielmo di Guidone Bizzani.
The oldest part of the building is located under the bell tower; only the north-east corner that rests against the church has been preserved. The parish church was entirely rebuilt in the XII century with a Latin-cross plan, three aisles, a transept and a semicircular apse. Today, the building shows basically the same structure. On the façade there are two portals with architraves and round arches; a second entrance is located on the west side of the southern transept. We can see a series of mullioned windows on the sides of the aisles, in the transepts and in the apse.
The church was renovated between the XVI and XVII centuries when the bell tower and the apse were practically built anew; the aisles and transepts were raised and large windows were opened in place of the mullioned windows. During a recent restoration, which is clearly visible in all parts of the building, the Medieval mullioned windows were reopened, while the windows added in modern times were closed. Additionally, a number of ashlars were replaced, together with the main portal—of which only the left jamb remains. Today, the church of Santa Maria di Loppia preserves the majority of its XII century Romanesque walls. – source