Legend has it that the founder of the parish was San Frediano, bishop of Lucca in the 6th century. The church, starting from the 11th century, took the name of Plebes de Fosciana.

Inside the building you can admire various works of art, starting with an Annunciation by Andrea Della Robbia, paintings by the school of the Lucca artist Pietro Paolini, by Antonio Consetti from Modena. The sacristy of the sixteenth century is also interesting. There is also a 14th century baptismal font.

In a strategic position (in direct visual relationship with the fortified village of Castiglione and the fortress of Montalfonso in Castelnuovo Garfagnana), and full of ancient buildings including some important Renaissance palaces, it develops in concentric rings of the hilly relief, on the top of which is located the medieval tower.

In the highest part of the town, you can reach the Sillico tower by crossing the ancient building fabric of the town.
The tower is part of those garrisons and small towers set up to defend the villages and along the road system, in this case of the minor viability of crossing the Apennines, these defensive structures then lost their importance in favor of the large fortified garrisons which in the ‘500 were made in Val di Serchio.

At the behest of Duke Francesco I d’Este and his father Alfonso III, who became a Capuchin with the name of Father Giambattista, in 1634 the Convent of San Giuseppe was founded, better known as “dei Cappuccini”, which in almost four years was almost completed together with the church.

Of the canvases commissioned to Guido Reni (Marriage of the Virgin), to Guercino (San Francesco who receives the stigmata), to Annibale Carracci (Rest in Egypt), none is more on site.

A few decades later, the facade of the church, which was accessed by a double flight of steps, was plastered and the porch in front of the convent portal demolished. The complex, suppressed and looted during the Cisalpino government, was restored after various events. (Source: Wikipedia)