Pescia Cathedral: The Mother Church of the Diocese of Pescia
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Italian, Republic of Florence, Republic of Lucca
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Cathedral
On this page20 sections
History
Pescia Cathedral is the principal Catholic church of Pescia, Italy, and the mother church of the Diocese of Pescia. Dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist, it may have origins in the fifth or sixth century. The present building largely dates from the 1684 rebuilding, which combined a Baroque interior with elements inherited from earlier phases.
Early church and medieval rebuilding
The church is first recorded in 857 as a baptistery parish church, meaning a parish church responsible for administering baptism. It was consecrated in 1062 by Pope Alexander II. Tradition holds that Alexander had previously served as Pescia’s parish priest before becoming bishop of Lucca. The building was completely rebuilt after the city fire of 1281. Traces of medieval masonry remain on the left side, while fragments of the thirteenth-century ambo, a raised stand for reading scripture, were later adapted for use as a lectern.
The 1684 reconstruction
The collapse of the dome caused extensive destruction to the medieval church. In 1684, the building was reconstructed to a design by Antonio Maria Ferri. The earlier Latin-cross plan, with a long central axis crossed by a shorter transverse arm, was replaced by a single nave with chapels beside the presbytery and a dome. This rebuilding established the basic form of the cathedral seen today.
Bell tower and façade
The bell tower is traditionally identified as a former section of Pescia’s city walls. In 1306, single-, double-, and triple-light windows were inserted into it. Its original spire roof was replaced by the present cupola in 1771, following a design by Bishop Donato Maria Arcangeli. The façade remained unfinished until the late nineteenth century, when Giuseppe Castellucci completed it in a Neoclassical idiom. A monumental marble portal was added in 1933.
Modern conservation and liturgical change
A general conservation campaign took place in 2018 and 2019 for the five-hundredth anniversary of the Diocese of Pescia. Work concentrated on the nave, dome, and presbytery, the area around the main altar reserved for the clergy. A 44-member commission, which included the theologian Severino Dianich, selected Fabrizio Rossi Prodi’s project for reorganizing the presbytery. The work introduced a new altar, cathedra, the bishop’s official seat, and ambo. The new ambo incorporates surviving elements of the medieval pulpit with modern additions.
The same restoration also changed the arrangement of the former baptistery chapel and the adjacent former Company chapel. The baptistery was reinstated in its former chapel, while the neighboring space became the Chapel of Saint Allucio. The mortal remains of Saint Allucio of Campugliano, a medieval Christian saint venerated in Tuscany, were transferred there. They had previously been kept beside the altar of the Most Holy Rosary from 1791. The Chapel of Saint Allucio had been established in 1934, on the eight-hundredth anniversary of the saint’s death.
Altarpieces and the cathedral collection
The cathedral’s artistic history also reflects the movement of works between local churches and ecclesiastical collections. Raphael’s Madonna del Baldacchino remained in the Turini Chapel until 1697, when it entered the collection of Grand Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici. The painting now in the chapel is Pier Dandini’s copy. A Della Robbia altarpiece, made by members of the Florentine family of sculptors and ceramic artists known for brightly glazed terracotta, originally came from the small church of San Biagio on Piazza Grande. After that church was suppressed in 1784, the altarpiece was moved to the episcopal sacristy, where it was found in fragments in 1847. Following reassembly and restoration, it was installed in the cathedral in December 2020.
Remains
The cathedral combines Gothic, Baroque, and Neoclassical elements. Its present layout is organized around a single nave, side chapels beside the presbytery, and a dome. The interior has vaulted roofing, stone architectural members, and cream-colored plaster. Medieval fabric survives in the bell tower, in masonry on the left side of the church, and in fragments incorporated into the modern ambo.
Façade and bell tower
The façade is attached to the Gothic bell tower. It is divided into two superimposed zones by a cornice supported by Corinthian pilasters and semicolumns. The upper zone contains a central arched window with a balustrade and ends in an elaborate pediment. The marble portal belongs to the 1933 intervention. The tower retains the single-, double-, and triple-light windows inserted in 1306, while its upper form is marked by the cupola added in 1771.
Nave and presbytery
Two white-marble holy-water stoups beside the entrance date from 1504 and 1505. The seventeenth-century high altar was made by Giuseppe Vaccà, and the apse contains Luigi Garzi’s large painting of the Assumption of the Virgin. The presbytery furnishings from the 2018–2019 reorganization include a white-marble altar table with metal decoration, a white-marble cathedra, and an ambo made partly from the surviving thirteenth-century pulpit.
Right-side chapels
Raffaelli Chapel
The first chapel on the right is the Raffaelli Chapel. It contains Luigi Norfini’s Virgin and Saints, painted in 1852.
Flori Chapel
The adjacent chapel is under the patronage of the Flori family. Its principal painting is Pietro Donzelli’s Saint Charles Giving Communion to the Plague Victims, dating from the late seventeenth century. The niches contain late seventeenth-century plaster sculptures of Saint Joseph with the Child and Saint Jerome, attributed to Sebastiano Piccini and Quirico Coli.
Forti Chapel
The Forti Chapel contains Giuseppe Bottani’s eighteenth-century Nativity of the Virgin. Its vault has a nineteenth-century fresco, accompanied by marble decoration.
Turini Chapel
The large Turini Chapel is Renaissance in style. Its altar of the Most Holy Sacrament contains Pier Dandini’s copy of Raphael’s Madonna del Baldacchino. The chapel floor holds the austere tomb of Angelo Simonetti, bishop of Pescia from 1908 to 1950. Beside it stands the mausoleum of Baldassarre Turini, papal datary under Leo X and Clement VII. A papal datary was a senior official who handled petitions and related administrative matters. The mausoleum was made by Raffaello da Montelupo and completed by Pierino da Vinci and Antonio and Stoldo Lorenzi. Its sculpted effigy of Turini is attributed to Pierino da Vinci.
Left-side chapels
Cecchi Chapel
The Cecchi Chapel is dedicated to Saint Lawrence and contains a canvas by Anton Domenico Gabbiani. During the sixteenth century it had stucco and fresco decoration, together with a panel of the Assumption of the Virgin among Saints Julian and Lawrence. The panel was signed by Sebastiano Vini and probably executed largely by Benedetto Pagni. It is the surviving work from that earlier decorative complex and was later deposited in the Oratory of Sant’Erasmo in Uzzano. The chapel also contained the tombs of the Cecchi family and of the prelate Pierfrancesco, who commissioned it.
Chapel of the Most Holy Rosary
The chapel beside the Cecchi Chapel contains a painting by Antonio Franchi of Villa Basilica. Its former altar also held the remains of Saint Allucio before they were transferred to the saint’s chapel.
Former baptistery chapel
The former baptistery chapel contains a Florentine well-shaped baptismal font from the beginning of the seventeenth century and Alessandro Bardelli’s Baptism of Jesus. Both were returned during the 2018–2019 restoration, after having been transferred to the adjacent former Company chapel.
Chapel of Saint Allucio
The Chapel of Saint Allucio contains the saint’s mortal remains near its altar. A painting by Barsotti formerly stood there, but in 1985 it was replaced by a canvas by Romano Stefanelli, a pupil of Pietro Annigoni.
Sacristy, organ, and Della Robbia altarpiece
The sacristy contains Pompeo Caccini’s 1611 altarpiece, Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew, which closely follows Cigoli’s 1607 painting of the same subject, now in Florence’s Galleria Palatina.
The pipe organ stands on the choir loft near the left wall of the transept crossing. Cesare Marini built it in 1700, and Filippo Tronci restored and enlarged it in 1884 as work number 1066. It retains its nineteenth-century configuration and mechanical action, with 39 stops, one keyboard, a pedalboard, and a window-style console. A cantoria is a raised choir gallery used to support an organ or singers.
In the left transept, the restored altarpiece Virgin and Child between Saints James and Blaise by Luca and Andrea della Robbia has been displayed since December 2020. The triptych was reassembled after being found in fragments in 1847 and was restored before its installation in the cathedral.
