Santa Maria alla Fornacetta was completely renovated just two years ago but it is not often that the door is open and the tiny church can be used. It generally has to be a special occasion.
Today the 15th August was one such special occasion -- the day of the festa for Santa Maria alla Fornacetta.
To help celebrate this festa there was the presence of Mario Joseph Conti, the Archbishop Emeritus of the Metropolitan see of Glasgow, Scotland
Although born in Elgin, Moray, Scotland, the Archbishop has family from this area in nearby Fosciandora.
This afternoon the tiny church on the Fornacetta – S.Maria della Fornacetta, was reopened to the Barga public after renovations on the roof and walls were finally completed and the church had been restored to its original glory. the moving ceremony was presided over by the Bishop of Pisa, mons. Giovanni Paolo Benotto and of course, the Proposto di Barga, Don Stefano.
The actual cost of the renovations, more than €250,000 was in the main part paid for by the donation of one single person -- that of the prof.ssa Clara Fiori who died recently and left any money raised from the sale of her house to be used to renovate the church. article here