San Vitale parish church
This parish church has very ancient origins: its existence dates back to the end of the 10th century in the age of the Roman colonisation. It was built in the plane of Mirteto, in a strategic position which allowed the control of the sea and is sheltered from the mountains. It was on the Luni's committee, but it didn't follow the unluckily destiny of the town because it was under the jurisdiction of the Episcopal church of San Martino in Lucca. The church was considered the most important religious centre of the area until the 13th-14th centuries thanks to its bond with Lucca, which had a continuous ecclesiastical, economical and political expansion.
With the family Malaspina-Cybo's settlement in Massa, the church of San Pietro became the most important religious centre and with the end of the domination of Lucca, San Vitale parish church took a back seat.
This building underwent a series of drastic changes in the course of the centuries, it was even supposed to have a different collocation as confirmed by the fresco hanging in a wall of the belfry and dating back to the 16th - 17th century. This picture, representing San Giovanni Battista, is actually out of each architectural context. However we have no written documents about this and we can only hypothesise.
The church consists of three naves with six simple pillars and has nowadays a Renaissance look. In spite of the changes and the restoring and in spite of the numerous larcenies, it retains a lot of important works of art, as the very interesting Annunciation, a 15th century sculptural work by Antonio Pardini; the two little Parian marble sculptures representing an angel and the Virgin, which are collocated on either sides of the presbytery and which probably come from the colony of Luni.
Other important works are the local marble tabernacle containing the Crowned Virgin with the Child and the statue of San Rocco, both dating back to the 14th - 15th century and the little wrought iron gate of the high altar's balustrade, which is also very fine.
The altar-piece dating back to the 18th century, represents the Holy Face and is probably the remaking of the same image which was in the older church.
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