The square, which bears the same name as the church, is also called "the cropped column"...
Santa Maria Forisportam (from the Latin "foris portam", or "out door") owes its name to the fact that in Roman times it was located outside the city walls; known to Lucca as Santa Maria Bianca, for the characteristic white marble structure of the Apuan Alps. Inside the church there are two works by Guercino: "L'Assunta con in santi" and "Santa Lucia", both canvases made in the middle of the millese hundred. The church is also enriched by the main altar made by Matteo Civitali and the Roman sarcophagus of the 5th century.