Complesso Monumentale di San Micheletto
via San Micheletto, 3 55100 Lucca
[unitegallery san_micheletto]
The church of San Michele in Cipriano was founded in 720 in the “borghicciolo”, a natural continuation of the village of San Gervasio. The current Church was rebuilt in 1195 due to a collapse occurred in the twelfth century and the bad condition of its condition, reusing ornamental bands and pillars of possible origin from the oldest Church.
In 1260 it was called “Ecclesia S. Michaelis de Borghiciolo”. The Prior of San Bartolomeo in Silice in 1433 gave Sister Marchesana of Pagano Portici, Mother Superior of the nuns of the Third Order, the Church of San Michele, an adjacent house, a vegetable garden and other goods belonging to the Church.
In 1460 the Church became a monastery consecrated to the rule of Santa Chiara. From the early sixteenth century to the last years of the eighteenth century were carried out works of various sizes, consisting of masonry, restoration and decoration that affected both the Church and the Monastery.
In 1806, according to the decree of the Baciocchi Government which provided for the abolition and expropriation of the assets of the religious communities of the Principality of Lucca, the Monastery of San Micheletto was taken over and used as a stable for the residence of the princes at Villa Buonvisi.
1827 saw the resettlement of the Clarisse nuns and the transition from private property to the monastic community. The Clarisse asked the closure of the alley between the monasteries of San Micheletto and the Visitation with the construction of the wall that separates both the complexes from the Public Square and allows the exclusive use of the common property of the two monasteries. Thirty years later, in 1857, the restoration work of the Church was started.
In 1896 the Municipal Council asked and obtained the closure of the Monastery, allowing the nuns to be able to use some more. In 1901 the City of Lucca handed it back to the religious; later, in fear of new oppression, the religious community cedes the ownership of the Monastery to the Opera Pia di Terrasanta.
In 1945 the Monastery, now inhabited by a small number of nuns, began with a number of schools to lease a number of leases of most of the premises included in the north wing of the Complex. With the abandonment of the complex by the nuns, in 1972 San Micheletto became the property of the Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca.
