An exceptional discovery at Gallicano in Garfagnana: excavations have unearthed the precious remains of the 11th-century Pieve di San Cassiano, of which there had been no trace since the late 15th century. The finds were unearthed by archaeologists from the paleopathology division of the University of Pisa engaged in the Gallicano Project, directed by Professor Antonio Fornaciari.

The Pieve di Gallicano was at the head of a vast territory that corresponded to the Apuan portion of the Val di Serchio, in lower Garfagnana, and had 23 religious bodies under its dependencies. Thanks to on-site research we now know that the church in its Romanesque phase was 18 meters wide and about 23 meters long, with an apse and three naves interspersed with two rows of four columns.

An excavation made possible, as the University makes known, by the invaluable collaboration of the entire Gallicano community, from the owners of the land to the local residents who helped in organizing the site.

The first phase of the campaign concluded now began last June 15 and brought very important results. In fact, in addition to the remains of the church of San Cassiano, archaeologists from the University of Pisa also unearthed a large cemetery area attached to the parish church, with burials covering a time span from the early Middle Ages to the 13th century.

Thanks to the analysis of the skeletal remains found, it will now be possible to learn about the living habits of the local population over the centuries and thus reconstruct the demographic and health history of the population of Gallicano as well as the settlement patterns of the Garfagnana area between the early and late Middle Ages.