Massa Cathedral () is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

Massa Massa may refer to: Places Italy *Province of Massa and Carrara, province in the Tuscany region of Italy * Duchy of Massa and Carrara, controlled the towns of Massa di Carrara and Carrara * Roman Catholic Diocese of Massa Marittima-Piombi ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

, central

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It is dedicated to Saint Cerbonius. Formerly a conventual church, it was declared the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Massa Carrara at its creation in 1822, and is now the seat of the bishop of Massa Carrara-Pontremoli.

History

The church originated as a

pieve In Italy in the Middle Ages, a ''pieve'' (, ; ; : ''pievi'') was a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended. ''Pieve'' is also an Italian and Corsican term signifying the medieval ecclesiastical/a ...

dedicated to

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

, enlarged in the 16th and 17th century. It became a

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

in 1629. In 1672, the building collapsed, and at the end of the century was replaced by a new one, designed by Alessandro Bergamini. This construction was demolished by order of duchess

Elisa Bonaparte Maria Anna Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi Levoy ( French: ''Marie Anne Elisa Bonaparte''; 3 January 1777 – 7 August 1820), better known as Elisa Bonaparte, was an imperial French princess and sister of Napoleon Bonaparte. She was Princess of Lucca ...

(sister of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

) in 1807, when the dedication to Saint Peter was transferred to the church of

Saint Francis St. Francis or Saint Francis may refer to: Roman Catholic saints *Francis of Assisi (1181–1226), Italian founder of the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans) *Francis of Paola (1416–1507), Italian (Calabrian) founder of the Order of the Minims * ...

in Massa, which had been reconstructed in 1660–1670. This church had a large marble high altar, with further altars in the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

, and paintings by

Carlo Maratta Carlo Maratta or Maratti (18 May 162515 December 1713) was an Italian Baroque painter and Drawing, draughtsman, active principallly in Rome where he was the leading painter in the second half of the 17th century. He was a fresco and canvas painte ...

(''Mary Immaculate'') and

Luigi Garzi Luigi Garzi (1638–1721) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period whose style was strongly influenced by the work of the Bolognese painter Guido Reni. Biography He was born in Pistoia. He started learning from a poorly known landscape paint ...

(''Trinity in Glory with Saints''), which have been preserved until today. Behind the south transept altar is the burial chapel of the

Malaspina family The House of Malaspina was a noble Italian family of Longobard origin that descended from Boniface I, Margrave of Tuscany, Boniface I, through the Obertenghi line, that ruled Lunigiana from the 13th to the 14th centuries, and the Province of Mas ...

, commissioned by duke Alberico II. In 1822, at the creation of the diocese of Massa, the church of St. Francis was declared its cathedral.

Notes

References

{{Coord, 44.0380, 10.1442, type:landmark_region:IT, display=title Churches in the province of Massa and Carrara Baroque architecture in Tuscany

Cathedrals in Tuscany