Saints Jacopo and Ginese

Villa Basilica, località Boveglio, SP55, 55019 Villa Basilica LU

The church is remembered as a baptismal parish in 1086, but in the following century it already appears to have lost this right, returning to the jurisdiction of the parish church of Villa Basilica. It was before this time that it had to be built in forms that can still be understood today, despite the substantial subsequent interventions, especially from the 16^th century: in particular, the general layout of the church, with an other nave divided by aisles, can be traced back to a medieval construction by the 11^th century from pilasters rather shortened, and the decorative system still visible on the façade in correspondence of the left aisle, constituted by blind little arches set on a high stylobate. Comparisons in this sense can also be established with the nearby Vico Pancellorum and Corsena in Val di Lima. It was believed that it should have been placed chronologically in a similar era - given the loss of the baptismal law recorded by documents in later periods - also the polygonal baptismal font preserved in a church chapel in the left side: the artifact is hexagonal and houses on the frame higher than the conjunction of the marble mirrors, abstract sculptured elements (five domed cupids) and an all-round bovine. In fact recent studies have hypothesized that the church of Boveglio acted as a sort of baptismal branch of the parish church of Villa Basilica, even after the loss of the right to baptism, due to the isolation of the area: if this were the case, the baptismal font it would be more appropriately datable to the first half of the thirteenth century, in relation to sources of similar typology (Brancoli, Barga) produced by the Lombard workshops of sculptors who acted in this area at the time in question. In the presbytery there is a tabernacle for the holy oils of civitalesco ambit. Particularly significant - in spite of the handicraft characteristic but by virtue of the extreme rarity of artifacts of this type and preserved at this time - are two carved wooden planks of 1660.