Church of San Giusto in Lucca
A beautiful doorway and Baroque interiors make this church very interesting
Built on the structures of a former worship site, the church of San Giusto in Lucca dates back to the second half of the 12th century. The architecture of the temple is articulated into three aisles with an apse, the façade is decorated with a two-tone colour scheme on the upper part: wide bands of white marble start just above the main doorway and continue into the main masonry body of the central nave, where they are arranged in small overlapping loggias.
The main portal is particularly interesting: one of the most significant of its kind by the school of Guidetto, both in terms of the fine craftsmanship and some decorative details, such as the twisting atlases that hold up the two lions protruding to the sides of the lunette and two large classically posed mascarons.
In the 17th century the interior was restructured in strictly Baroque taste. In the first half of the last century, with the intention of returning the church to its presumed original appearance, the 17th-century stuccowork started to be removed. Fortunately, some figures in Lucca’s cultural world managed to preserve the Baroque decorations.
