St. Michael Archangel at Pegazzano. Coderone Castle and Ruins of San Martino il Vecchio

The church of St. Michael, located at Pegazzano, once an ancient independent community now totally incorporated into La Spezia’s urban layout, standing on a major road crossroads already used in Roman times if not before, was first recorded in the strictest sense of the word at quite a later date, that is to say in the records of the church in Luni dating back to 1470-’71, where it was noted down as depending from Marinasco parish church. The inscription now on the bell tower however dates the first reliable records of the building further back by more than a century informing that the church was built in 1349, the year after the devastating plague that also raged in the Spezia gulf.
The fact that the inscription refers to the church being built and not founded could stand to indicate that here we have the reconstruction of an existing building rather than the foundation of a new one; and some clear traces would leave one to suppose that the church, now deconsecrated and still awaiting to know its fate, could have been founded in Roman times.
The walls along the sides made of small ashlars laid square with each other, comparable for example with St. Venerius at Migliarina and Our Lady of Assumption at Vezzano – both datable to the second half of the XI century – are particularly indicative of the early age of the building. The same chronological timing could also be referred to the single lancet windows on both sides as well as to the door to the bell tower inside the church which may also have been built into a different wall from the original during reconstruction works. The walled in holy-water font underneath the inscription, seemingly made from capital in sandstone recycled for this specific purpose, similarly to the one situated laterally to the side door in the Marinasco parish church, could also possibly be referable to a Roman period.
This period, perhaps not even the first one, is followed by the Gothic construction works even though, in some ways, it is rather difficult to establish which parts are actually involved by the 14th century works: certainly the lancet openings in the bell tower, soaring up and crowned by a 16th century drum coverage.
From St. Michael’s church, standing on a hillock, it is easy to reach the ruins of Coderone castle, also by going along the sea road leading to Riomaggiore and Manarola affording a great view of the Gulf of La Spezia in the first stretch. Located just outside the village of Biassa on a rocky spur covered with vegetation, the castle was erected around about the middle of the XIII century to support Genoa’s defensive and expansionary strategies and included a small village at the foot of the walls of the fortress with its own church called St. Mary Magdalene. The greater part of the medieval castle was upgraded between the XV and XVI century, when it ceased to be used for military purposes and was converted into a private mansion.
The greater part of the nearby village of Biassa, stands around church of St. Martin, in reality heir, also its name, to a more ancient foundation under road to Parodi on the eastern side of mount Verrugoli. The ruins of the original construction dedicated to St. Martin and especially the apse built in local pink stone, are all that remain of the church first recorded probably in 1229 and open to prayer up until the first half of the XVII century. An important religious foundation almost certainly linked with monastery of St. Venerius on Tino Island, representing a fascinating trace of the Gulf’s thousand year history.