Chiesa di San Biagio

The Church of San Biagio stands in the heart of Montecatini Val di Cecina, in Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi, and is the most important and oldest religious building in the historic centre. Built in the mid-fourteenth century, it has a masonry side wall with two elegant windows and a sixteenth-century portal, while the parish house dates back to the sixteenth century and its construction deprived the church of its original façade. The interior, with three naves and a trussed roof, is supported by monolithic columns topped with capitals decorated with aquatic-leaf motifs, creating a solemn and intimate atmosphere.

Among the most valuable works of art preserved inside are a painting of Gloria dell’Eucarestia con i Santi Biagio e Sebastiano by Antonio Circignani (1614) and a panel by Neri di Bicci depicting San Sebastiano e i santi Biagio e Antonio abate dating to around 1478. On either side of the choir are two marble candle-bearing angels, locally known as the cechini, while in a special place inside the church is kept the Madonna di Caporciano, a painted stone statue found in the mine in the early seventeenth century. A parish church in the Diocese of Volterra, with the title of archpriest, it also served as the seat of the local vicariate until the mid-twentieth century, reflecting the central role it played for centuries in the spiritual and social life of the community.