Piazza San Lorenzo

                     

Church and Monastery of San Lorenzo: This church, which stands in the square of the same name, was built in the Gothic style in 1278 along with the large monastery. Once adorned with medieval frescoes, it was completely transformed in the Baroque period and subsequent centuries. The complex, run by Augustinian monks until the Napoleonic period, became state property in the 19th century and was turned into a local military headquarters. A fresco depicting St. Anthony Abbot can be seen in the lunette over the main door.

Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie or Santa Maria del Letto: The church of the Madonna delle Grazie, or Santa Maria del Letto (literally "St. Mary of the Bed"), owes its name to a miraculous event: in 1336 a young girl confined to a hospital bed is said to have been cured when the Virgin Mary appeared to her, leaving behind her image on the wall. The room in which the miracle took place was transformed into an oratory and later into the present church (1469), where the girl's bed is still kept. The front of the building has an elegant stone portal with a large lunette containing the Pistoia city crest. The design for this remarkable example of Renaissance architecture in the city was by Pistoian architects Giovan Battista Gerini and Ventura Vitoni, possibly also with the Florentine Michelozzo. The aisleless interior has a fine carved wood coffered ceiling (16th cent.). The high altar has a supposedly miraculous fresco of the Virgin and Child, while the side altars are decorated with 16th-century artworks from the Pistoia and Florence area by Sebastiano Vini, Giovanni Battista Naldini and Alessandro Fei.

                     

CNA Pistoia - Impresa+s.coop. Realizzato da SIS Informatica.