Firenze	Prato	Pistoia	Lucca	Versilia
Pisa	Siena	Arezzo	Golf	Wellness

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Over the centuries, Cathedral square in Pistoia has preserved its role as the city’s main centre, with its historical buildings still used for the main functions of social life: even today the Cathedral, Town Hall and Court serve their original purpose, and the square is just as animated as it was, a thousand years ago, by the bustling market, which takes place every Wednesday and Saturday morning. Coming along the narrow Via degli Orafi, the square appears in all its beauty.
The old belltower, in the middle, rises over 66 metres and constitutes the heart around which all of the other monumental buildings are arranged. It is worth the effort of climbing the 200 steps just for the splendid view you can admire at the top. The bell-tower is aligned with the façade of San Zeno Cathedral, which existed back in 923 and which was rebuilt and extended in the 12th Century and transformed over the centuries. Inside, ancient Romanesque structures blend with Baroque and Renaissance work and with the complete decorative after-thought of the apse part, which was finished in the mid-nineteenth century.
The precious silver altar of the old chapel, which was dedicated to the Patron Saint Jacopo in 1145 and destroyed in 1786, still stands; this magnificent work by goldsmiths was completed over the centuries, in various phases, between 1287 and 1456, by goldsmiths from Pistoia and Florence, including the young Filippo Brunelleschi, who later designed the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, and who made several small, intense sculptures portraying the Prophets, pre-announcing the great expressive power, which was to characterise the most celebrated work of one of the greatest geniuses of the Renaissance period.
Among the precious works kept in the Cathedral we must also include the Crucifixion painted by Coppo di Marcovaldo and his son Salerno di Coppo, and the monument to Cardinal Forteguerri, which was completed in the eighteenth century and designed and partially created by Andrea Verrocchio, Leonardo da Vinci’s master.

Verrocchio and his studio also made Bishop Donato de’ Medici’s tombstone in the Pappagalli Chapel, to the left of the apse, where there is a sophisticated painting of the Madonna di Piazza that was completed around 1485 by Lorenzo di Credi, who, like Leonardo, was also one of Verrocchio’s apprentices. Next to the Cathedral stands the old Bishops’ Palace, which was the bishop’s residence until 1786; today it is the site of the museum and representative office of the Cassa di Risparmio di Pistoia e Pescia. To the south of Cathedral square, where the religious buildings stand, the elegant Gothic Baptistery of San Giovanni in Corte makes a fine show with its precious bi-chrome marble covering.
The Baptistery, which was built in the middle of the fourteenth century by Cellino di Nese, perhaps according to Nicola Pisano’s design, has an octagonal plan and a truncated pyramid roof, surmounted by a lantern decorated with spires and pinnacles. The entrance doorway is wonderfully decorated and surmounted by bas-reliefs and statues. Inside you can see a rare immersion christening font by Lanfranco da Como, dating back to 1226, from the old Baptist church of Santa Maria, which stood on the site of the Baptistery.
To the north of the square, the Town Hall and Palazzo Pretorio stand opposite the buildings that symbolise civil power. The first, also known as Palazzo degli Anziani, was built after the end of the thirteenth century and enlarged in the 14th Century. Its current appearance still preserves the severe forms in keeping with the place of power, where the Magistracy of the Elders assembled, the Gonfaloniers of Justice and then the Podestà. On the façade, besides the Medici family’s coat of arms surmounted by the insignia of Pope Leone X, there is also the black marble head of Musetto II, the king of Majorca, who was defeated in the Balearic war, between 1113 and 1115, by Grandonio de’ Ghisilieri, a captain from Pistoia, to whom the mace refers. Besides still being the city’s administrative centre, the Palazzo is home to the Civic Museum and the Giovanni Michelucci Documentation Centre.
Palazzo Pretorio or Palazzo del Podestà, which was built after 1367, owes its present appearance to the expansion in 1845. The inner courtyard is particularly interesting with its frescoed vaults and walls decorated with the numerous coats of arms of podestà, custody captains, commissioners and governors, who performed their duties in the Palazzo from the Middle Ages until 1816, when the magistracy was abolished and the building became used as a Court building.
To the left of the entrance the bench is preserved with three orders of steps, and the great stone table where justice was administered. On the north-eastern side of the square you can still see evidence of the medieval city: Catilina tower, perhaps an ancient watch tower from the nearby bastion of the first circle of walls, takes its name from the famous Roman condottiere, who, according to Sallustio, died in battle near Pistoia.
There is a building in front of Catilina tower with a green and white marble wall face, where you can still see traces of the ancient church of Santa Maria Cavaliera. The church, of early Middle Age origins, was probably called “cavaliera” because the knights’ investiture ceremony took place here. It was rebuilt in the 13th century and completely transformed into a civil residence after 1783.