The church of Sant’Antonio is a Catholic place of worship in Viareggio, in the province of Lucca, located in Corso Garibaldi 157. It is the seat of the parish of the same name, run by the Friars Minor.
History
The primitive church was built in the historical nucleus of Viareggio between 1624 and 1638, shortly after the construction of the first building of worship in the city (today’s church of the Santissima Annunziata, formerly San Pietro), built in 1560. The church of Sant ‘Antonio was erected as a parish in 1650 and was equipped with a baptismal font in 1661. Destroyed by a bombing raid in 1944, it was rebuilt in its current form by 1950, when it was reopened for worship.
Description
The exterior of the church of Sant’Antonio is characterized by a salient façade which, unlike the rest of the structure, has a red brick wall. In each of the two lateral sections there are two splayed rectangular windows; in the central part, at the bottom, there is a portico with three bays, enclosed by a gate. The central entrance is surmounted by a loggia decorated with painted majolica by the artist Beppe Domenici depicting Saint Anthony of Padua. In the portico there are three portals which give access to the inside of the church.
Inside, the church of Sant’Antonio has a single nave structure with side chapels and an apse. The nave is covered with trusses and on the counter-façade there is a choir loft which opens with five round arches. The chapels house various statues and the Stations of the Cross. Inside the chapels there are also five bells from the Lera foundry in Borgo Giannotti (LU); they were merged in 1949 in view of a new bell tower which, however, was never built. The nave ends with the apse with a square plan, where the raised presbytery is located, with modern furnishings in Carrara marble and a sculpted Crucifix.
Behind the main altar is the Mascioni pipe organ opus 599, built in 1944. The instrument has an electric transmission and is placed in three niches that open into the back wall of the apse, each with a round arch ; the exhibition within each niche is formed by main pipes arranged in a single cusp with lateral wings. The console, an independent piece of furniture, has three keyboards of 61 notes each and a concave-radial pedalboard of 32 notes.
