Usually something has gone all wrong if you have to visit a hospital during a holiday. Fortunately the Ospedale del Ceppo in Pistoia is a museum nowadays. Tradition dictates that it was founded as early as 1277, and it was only closed in 2013, upon the opening of the new…
The elegant Palazzo Comunale, also known as the Palazzo degli Anziani, is situated directly next to the Duomo of Pistoia. Construction of the palazzo started in 1295. As its alternative name indicates, it served as accommodation for the Anziani, the Elders. The magistrate with the prestigious title of Gonfaloniere (literally:…
It was not easy to get inside the Cappella del Tau, also known as the church of Sant’Antonio Abate. The limited accessibility we encountered was probably related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapel is just small and as a consequence there was a considerable risk of infection. This could easily…
Pistoia is sometimes called ‘little Florence’. The basilica of the Madonna dell’Umiltà may be largely held responsible for that nickname. It has a dome that closely resembles the famous dome that Brunelleschi built for the Duomo of Florence. Rather unsurprisingly, the dome in Pistoia was designed and built by a…
Originally we had not even intended to visit the church of San Domenico, a church that was not even mentioned in our travel guide. But while we were sitting in the Piazza San Domenico, waiting for the Cappella del Tau on the other side of the road to open, we…
The beautiful abbey church of San Bartolomeo in Pantano was founded around 760, in the late Longobard era (568-774). The monks that settled here followed the rule of the Irish Saint Columbanus (ca. 540-615). Columbanus had travelled to Longobard Italy and had founded a famous abbey at Bobbio just before…
We were confronted with two issues when we wanted to visit the church of Sant’Andrea in August of last year: limited opening hours and an admission charge. This may be the standard arrangement, but it may also have been linked to the global COVID-19 crisis. In any case, the first…
Our travel guide did not have any information on the enormous church of San Francesco, but fortunately the church was included in a small map of the centre of Pistoia in the same guide. As the church is close to the large car park where we wanted to leave our…
The church of San Giovanni Fuorcivitas, dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist, is a very special edifice. The long side of the building, i.e. the northern side wall, basically serves as the façade of the church while the real façade is hidden away in a narrow alley. And the pseudo-façade…
Whether this is a standard arrangement or not I do not know, but in August of 2020 the beautiful octagonal baptistery of Pistoia could be visited for free. The edifice stands opposite the cathedral of the city and inside one can book guided tours for the bell-tower of the Duomo…
The cathedral of Pistoia is a splendid Romanesque-style building of which the history goes back to the tenth century. The present building dates mostly from the twelfth century, as a fire that broke out in 1108 necessitated a rebuilding. In the next couple of centuries many more changes were made…
Gentile da Fabriano (ca. 1370-1427) was a gifted painter from the small town of Fabriano in the Marche. I have previously discussed two of his works in the Brera Museum in Milan and I have spotted paintings that he or his studio created in other parts of Italy as well,…
Our ticket to the church of San Francesco allowed us to visit the National Archaeological Museum in Arezzo as well. The museum is special, because it is housed in a former monastery that was itself built into the remains of a Roman amphitheatre from the second century. We were short…
Tiziano Vecelli (ca. 1488-1576) – known in the English-speaking world as Titian – was arguably one of the greatest Venetian painters of all time. When he died of the plague in 1576 and was laid to rest in a simple grave in the church of the Frari in Venice, he…
Although he considered himself first and foremost a sculptor, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) was also an accomplished painter. Pope Julius II (1503-1513) commissioned him to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, a project Michelangelo worked on between 1508 and 1512. The great artist later returned to this chapel…
It is the oldest object currently in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence: a crucifix that has been dated to ca. 1180-1200 and that is simply known as Cross no. 432. The painter is unknown and therefore usually just called the Master of Crucifix no. 432. The crucifix was painted on…
When I was little, I used to play a game called ‘Botticelli’. It is quite a simple game: someone has to think of a famous person, and then others have to guess who he or she is by asking questions. These questions can only be answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no’.…
I will not hide the fact that I consider Giotto di Bondone (ca. 1266-1337) one of the greatest painters of all time. Giotto broke with Byzantine formalism and rigidness and started painting people as people again, with natural forms, intricate details and brilliant colours. His year of birth is uncertain,…
Siena’s Duomo museum was founded in 1869. It is housed in the right aisle of the uncompleted new nave of the cathedral, built between 1339 and 1357. On display inside are some of the original sculptures that used to be on the cathedral facade, several interesting paintings and religious items.…
“A descent into the world of colour takes you into the heart of the Cathedral to the place popularly known as the “Crypt”, one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the past twenty years.” The website of the Opera della Metropolitana di Siena uses roaring language to open a…