San Frediano, Pisa
Encyclopedia
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
, Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Its existence is mentioned as early as 1061. Founded by the family Buzzaccherini-Sismondi and originally dedicated to Saint Martin
Martin of Tours
Martin of Tours was a Bishop of Tours whose shrine became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Around his name much legendary material accrued, and he has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints...
, it had once an hospital annexed to it.
The Romanesque façade shows typical features of the Pisane medieval architecture, such as the blind arcades, the lozenges and the use of bichrome stones (present also in the city's cathedral). In the upper part is a large mullioned window.
The interior, despite a fire in 1675, has maintained the original basilica plan with a nave and two aisles. The marble columns have capitals decorated with Romanesque-style sculpted figures. It houses a rare cross painted on a gilded panel with the Crucifix and Histories of the Passion (12th century), several Baroque altars and 17th-century paintings by Ventura Salimbeni
Ventura Salimbeni
Ventura di Archangelo Salimbeni was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker and among the last representatives of a style influenced by the earlier Sienese School of Quattrocento-Renaissance....
(Annunciation and Nativity), Aurelio Lomi
Aurelio Lomi
Aurelio Lomi was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance and early-Baroque periods, active mainly in his native town of Pisa, Tuscany.He may have initially been trained by his father, Giovanni Battista Lomi, but soon he...
(Adoration of the Magi), as well as frescoes by Domenico Passignano
Domenico Passignano
Domenico Passignano , born Cresti or Crespi, was an Italian painter of a late-Renaissance or Contra-Maniera style that emerged in Florence towards the end of the 16th century.- Biography :...
. The dome frescoes are by Rutilio Manetti.
The sturdy bell tower is in brickwork.