What to see in Pistoia, one-day itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest, including the Cathedral of San Zeno, the Baptistery, the Town Hall, the Civic Museum and Palazzo Pretorio.
Tourist information
Located in a plain located between the Ombrone stream and Monte Albano, in Pistoia there is a lively fruit and vegetable market, also famous for the production of flowers and plants in the numerous greenhouses in the area.
With Roman origins dating back to the second century BC, Pistoia was built as a city in the sixth century, or in the Lombard era.
Later it passed to the emperors of Germany, becoming a free Ghibelline municipality in the twelfth century.
Since then a positive period began for the city, in fact the inhabited center was enlarged and the construction of a new circle of walls was necessary.
Unfortunately, from the struggles established against Florence, Pistoia came out loser and had to renounce its autonomy after a hard siege.
In the fourteenth century a period of slow decline began, also caused by the attacks of the Lucchesi who induced her to accept the protection of the Florentines, following which she became part of the Medici principality in the sixteenth century.
This was followed by the Lorraine domination, until, in 1859 it was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy.
The Cathedral of San Zeno, built between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in Romanesque style, was reworked in later periods.
The facade of the Cathedral of Pistoia includes a triple order of loggias and a remarkable fourteenth-century portico.
The vault of the middle arch is decorated with splendid terracotta motifs by Andrea della Robbia, also the author of the central portal lunette.
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On the majestic bell tower of the thirteenth century Lombard period, three floors of loggias with two-colored bands were erected.
Inside three naves divided by columns and pillars you can see traces of ancient frescoes on the walls.
The Chapel of San Jacopo, located in the right nave, preserves the Saint's silver altarpiece, a remarkable work of high goldsmithery, whose construction involved various artists, of different origins, between 1287 and 1456.
Proceeding beyond the grandstand steps, you reach the entrance to the sacristy, where, in the chapel on the left of the main chapel, there is a Madonna and Child with Saints, made by Lorenzo di Credi.
The Baptistery, built around the middle of the fourteenth century by Cellino di Nese, has an octagonal plan, with a two-colored band-based covering and upper decoration made by means of a blind loggia including pinnacles.
What see
The Town Hall, dating back to the period between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, includes a portico and walls opened by mullioned and triple lancet windows, while the ground floor houses the documentation center for Marino Marini's work.
In the same building there is also the Civic Museum where, in the Sala dei Donzelli, it is possible to admire paintings on wood made by artists from Pistoia, while in the Sala dei Priori there are paintings made between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
In the hall on the second floor works from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century are exhibited, including specimens of Pistoia and Tuscan painters.
Outside, in front of the building, there is the Pozzo del Leoncino, built in the fifteenth century.
Palazzo Pretorio, also known as Palazzo del Podestà, is a fourteenth-century building, later enlarged, embellished with mullioned windows and coats of arms.
In Piazza San Lorenzo there is the Church of the Madonna delle Grazie, built in the Renaissance style, designed by Michelozzo, in the fifteenth century.
The Ceppo Hospital, built between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, has a sixteenth-century porch decorated with a frieze made of polychrome terracotta from a workshop of the Robbian school.
The Church of Sant'Andrea appears with a remarkable white-green facade, built in the twelfth century, profiled by five arches finished with rhomboid decorations.
In the interior with three naves it is possible to admire two remarkable works by Giovanni Pisano, the wooden Crucifix, located in the center of the right nave, and the famous pulpit from the end of the thirteenth century, located on the left.
The construction of the Church of San Francesco dates back to the period between the end of the thirteenth and the half of the fifteenth century, with the addition of the two-colored facade in the eighteenth century, inside there are fourteenth-century frescoes.
The Church of Our Lady of Humility, in Renaissance style, was built by Ventura Fitoni in the early sixteenth century with Vasari's dome.
The Church of San Giovanni Fuorcivista was built in the period between 1100 and 1300, on top of an ancient oratory dating back to the eighth century.
With an unfinished facade, the church has a single-nave interior which preserves a remarkable sculpted stoup, representing the Virtues, made by Giovanni Pisano, as well as a beautiful polyptych by Taddeo Gaddi, located on the left of the main altar, and a Visitation in terracotta, at the left altar, made by the Della Robbia.
The thirteenth-century church of San Domenico was enlarged in the following century, while the church of San Paolo, erected at the end of the thirteenth century, has a cuspidate facade.
Behind the public park is the grandiose Santa Barbara Fortress.
The Diocesan Museum, which is housed inside the sixteenth-century Palazzo Rospigliosi, displays objects and furnishings of sacred art, part of the treasure of the Duomo, as well as frescoes torn from the wall, works of sculpture and painting.
