Siena is full of a thousand things – The parish church of Lamula, a “mysterious” name and the symbols that we drive away evil and raise to God
Ideas for the Easter Monday “picnic” family? If you are in the Amiata area you cannot miss the parish church of Santa Maria a Lamula. Located at the foot of the Montelaterone hill, in the municipality of Arcidosso.
Stop, no hand with the gun (also because it’s Easter and we must all be better), because Arcidosso (now the province of Grosseto) was part of the Ancient Sienese Republic so much so that the standard bearer of this Amiata town still parades in the Historical Parade.
This magnificent temple, immersed in the chestnut grove of the same name and not far from the river Ente, is attested since the year 853 when the emperor Ludwig II confirmed its possession as “cellam S. Mariae ad Lamulas” to the Benedictine monastery of San Salvatore (also the standard bearer of Abbadia San Salvatore parades in the Historical Parade). The word “lamule”, of Latin origin, probably derives from blades or strips of marshy land located near a stream and Lamule or Lamole was also the name of the village that stood in this area.
However, there is a well-known popular tradition (and it could not be missing) according to which the term “lamulas” is linked to a particular episode. It is still said that a “mule” knelt at the entrance of the church miraculously leaving her footprints that are still visible today. Hence the reason why the name of the parish in some sources is written as “La Mula”.
Do not stop at the façade and the bell tower which were visibly redone in the second half of the 19th century, but enter and you will find yourself in front of a pure and particular Romanesque. The building develops on a basilica plan with three naves; the interior is deliberately irregular in the structural base and ceiling plan because, at times, the symmetry was seen as stillness and death while the asymmetry represented life, movement and evolution. Even the columns obey the intentional “transgression” of the architectural order and each is different from the other, as well as the capitals and, probably, they were rebuilt after the fire perpetrated by the Sienese in 1264 in one of the many wars of the time.
In medieval architecture, the column symbolizes the point of arrival and departure in the path that the faithful make towards God and salvation. And each, in its own uniqueness, fulfills the symbolic function of mediator between the base of the temple and the ceiling, that is, between the earth and the sky. In the parish of Lamula the representations of the capitals begin on the two symbols that introduce to the presbytery with two armed men to protect it and these and other images, only apparently rough, horrid and gross, are instead typical expressions of the “Romanesque” rich in esmi meanings.
Their origin from ancient and often pagan cultures as well, together with faces and masks of Celtic inspiration, one of which is probably of Etruscan origin, depiction of water leaves and spheres that refer to Coptic Egyptian art therefore ram heads, images of snakes, of a small hare, of knights fighting against monstrous beasts, of a juggler of wild beasts and horrifying animals. And all of them have been placed there, it is said, to drive away and drive away evil spirits from that sacred place and remind those who visit Lamula that, in life, one must be vigilant and fight the forces of evil.
So happy visit and Happy Easter of serenity to all.
Mauro Martelli