HISTORY
The Romanesque church of Santa Maria Assunta at Rubbiano was probably founded in the mid-7th century, and is cited in acts of 880 and 908. Its fate is probably tied to its location along the Via Bibulica, the oldest and most important street linking Emilia and Tuscany that crosses the Apennines on the Radici Pass. The church probably acquired great prestige and prosperity beginning in 727 when traffic along the road picked up following the unification of the territory by the Lombards, who already occupied Garfagnana. When the Abbey of Frassinoro was founded in 1071, the church of Rubbiano diminished in importance.

ART-HISTORICAL NOTES
The church is on a small piazza, and still maintains its Romanesque style. On the exterior, pensile arches supported by figurative corbels crown the three apses, and are divided by a lancet window. A toothed cornice runs above the arches, and semicolumns lighten the structure, supporting capitals with vegetal and zoomorfic motifs. The 12th-century campanile sits next to the church.
Inside, the three aisles are separated by columns supporting capitals, volutes, cornices decorated with palm and acanthus leaves, lions and other animals, as well as human figures. There is also a holy water font from the 12-13th century, decorated by four female figures: two with the body of a siren and harpy legs. The font rests on a spoliated ionic capital.