The Church of Santa Maria dates to the X century, when it was raised and dedicated to the Virgin Mary and to St. John the Baptist. It is the main and most ancient sacred building in Vicopisano and it is the only construction located inside the walls.

The first information on the church can be known from a document of 934 A.D., and it can be assumed that its creation dated to a previous year.
Its current appearance shaped around the XII century, as it is showed by its original layout in Romanesque-Pisan style based on one single apse. The bas-relief, which can be seen by the left column, probably dates to the VIII century.
In the past, there was a cemetery adjacent to the church, and this can be inferred from some medieval inscriptions on the masonry work of the church's southern side. The aisles and the bell tower were added in the XIII century.
As said above, the interior of the church is divided into three naves by different capitals, which are both of medieval and Roman manufacture. One "Deposition from the Cross" can be admired on the apse.
This is a XIII-century wood composition that was preserved in its original structure, except for the loss of its ancient polichromy. Besides being one of the few examples of this artistic genre, the Deposition is also one of the most peculiar ones.
In effect, differing from the traditional iconography, Christ is not crucified but he is represented while falling. This reflects a particular attention towards anatomy, which was the lucky of the Florentine Renaissance in the following centuries.
Inside the church, there are still traces of the frescoes that decorated it in the XIII century and that reproduced some scenes of the Gospel and of the Old Testament.
The aim of these pictures was to guide the numerous illiterates through the reading of the bible when they went to churches, by means a range of images that culminated in the above-mentioned wood Deposition.
Unfortunately, most of these pictures were ruined between the XIV and the XVII centuries during the plastering works on the walls.
Other precious works kept in the church are the wood statue of St. John the Baptist, which was probably created by Nino Pisano (XIV century), the tomb-stones of various periods and the two holy-water basins. The one on the right at the entrance was obtained from a Roman capital that supports an Etruscan column.