Pistoia

Pistoia's Piazza del Duomo gathers the cathedral, baptistery, bell tower and two civic palaces into one square, all in the banded green and white marble of the Pistoiese Romanesque, and it is a set piece the equal of better-known Tuscan squares with a fraction of the visitors. The cathedral holds a silver altar of St James worked on from 1287 to 1456 by many hands including Brunelleschi. Giovanni Pisano's pulpit in Sant'Andrea is among the finest Gothic sculpture in Italy. The Ospedale del Ceppo carries a glazed terracotta frieze of the works of mercy. The city was Italian Capital of Culture in 2017.

History

Ancient Pistoria was a centre of Gallic, Ligurian and Etruscan settlement before Rome, and in 62 BC Catiline and his fellow conspirators were killed nearby. From the 5th century the city was a bishopric, under the Lombards it was a royal city with several privileges, and its most splendid age began in 1177, when it declared itself a free commune (Wikipedia, Pistoia).

What to look for

• Piazza del Duomo - cathedral, baptistery and palaces in banded marble.
• The silver altar of St James - worked on for nearly two centuries.
• Pisano's pulpit - Gothic carving in the church of Sant'Andrea.
• The Ceppo frieze - a glazed terracotta band of the works of mercy.

When to go

April to June and September to October; the Giostra dell'Orso is run in July. The blues festival fills the square in summer. Churches close at midday.

What to expect

Churches shut for a long midday break and the silver altar is behind a grille with restricted viewing. The outskirts are industrial nurseries, not scenery.

Nearby

Lucca lies west; Florence is east.

Key facts