San Giovanni Fuoricivitas
San Giovanni Fuoricivitas (also called San Giovanni Evangelista Fuorcivitas or Forcivitas) is a
History
No traces remain of the original Lombard edifice. The first document mentioning the church dates to 1119, when the church was described by Bishop Ildebrand as "nearly in ruins". In his Guide to Pistoia, the author Tolomei cites references to this church as a priory in either 12th or 13th century.[1] Others mention it was likely a collegiate church before that time.[2] The current building was most likely begun soon afterward, erected in the typical orientation with apse to the west. Construction lasted until 1344.
The church was severely damaged by the Allied bombings during World War II, and has undergone meticulous restoration during 1960 through the 1990s.
Description
Exterior and cloister
The appearance of the edifice is mostly defined by its northern side, originally parallel to now disappeared walls. The southern side faces the
During the last medieval enlargement, the church received its current plan with a single hall and a rectangular apse, incorporating the former northern wing of the cloister. What remains of the latter, dating to the 12th century, is today the only example in Pistoia of a Romanesque structure in mixed stone and brickwork construction. The small columns are in stone, decorated with capitals featuring heads of lions and oxen, while the arches and the walls are in brickwork. In the 14th century it received a second floor with a loggia.
Interior
Left of the entrance, on the northern wall, is a white ceramic glaze depicting the "Visitation", by Luca della Robbia. It is the oldest surviving example of the use of this technique in his workshop, aside from friezes or bas-reliefs. The work, originally featuring gilded decorations on the hair and the clothes, was commissioned in 1445 by the Fioravanti family of Pistoia. It was probably located then on the side opposite its present one.
The
On the southern walls is the
In the presbytery is a polyptych by Taddeo Gaddi (1350–1353) depicting the Virgin with Child with the Saints James, John the Evangelist, Peter and John the Baptist. Over the main figures, inscribed within Gothic-style small arches and twisting columns, are other figures of saints; in the upper frame is an Annunciation within a mullioned window, surmounted by the Eternal Father.
The frescoes in the choir are from 1307, with stories of the History of the Passion, attributed to the Master of 1310. The church houses also a 13th-century crucifix.
Sources
- Ferrali, S. (1970). "S. Giovanni Fuorcivitas". Il patrimonio artistico di Pistoia e del suo territorio: Catalogo storico descrittivo. Pistoia.
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References
- ^ Guida di Pistoia per gli amanti delle belle arti by Francesco Tolomei, page 97.
- ^ Pistoia e il suo territorio: Pescia e i suoi dintorni: guida del forestiero, by Giuseppe Tigri, Tipografia Cino, Pistoia (1853): page 222.
- ^ Tigri, page 222.
External links
- Page at the comune of Pistoia website (in Italian)
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