Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri, Pisa

Coordinates: 43°43′09.57″N 10°24′03.43″E / 43.7193250°N 10.4009528°E / 43.7193250; 10.4009528
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Church of Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri
Pasquale Poccianti, Gaetano Niccoli
TypeChurch
StyleMannerism
Groundbreaking1565
Completed1859
Giuseppe Pera, View of the Piazza dei Cavalieri (1801-1803)

Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri is a church in central

Piazza dei Cavalieri (Knight's Square).[1]

Construction began on 17 April 1565 in order to build a church for the

Cosimo I, with the help of Alessandro Pieroni; their designs were chosen over Vasari’s original plan. An inscription commemorates completion during the reign of Ferdinando I de' Medici
.

The bell-tower, also designed by Vasari, was completed by 1572 by

Pasquale Poccianti
. The final reconstruction in 1859, completed after the suppression of the order, creates the clearer interior systematization of columns we see today.

Interior

Bronzino, Birth of Christ

The church display numerous trophy banners, captured during naval encounters with Saracen pirates. The font for holy water (1568) was sculpted by Giovanni Fancelli, based on designs by Vasari.

In the counterfacade are five monochrome paintings of Stories of St Stefano Pope and Martyr, including one celebrating the entrance of

Ferdinando I on 31 March 1588. This grand-duke was to commission the wooden ceiling by Bartolomeo Atticciati
(1604).

The Ceiling has six paintings on wood depicting episodes historic events in which the military order was active, including the Granting of uniforms by Cosimo I de' Medici by

l'Empoli
,

Detail of the wooden ceiling

The polychrome pulpit (1627) was completed by Chiarissimo Fancelli. It contains paintings by the Pisan Aurelio Lomi of Madonna and child with Saints Joseph and Stefano (1593) and a painting of the palace of the Order.

The Main altar (1702–1709) in the presbytery was designed and sculpted by Giovanni Battista Foggini with a statue of St Stefano Pope and allegorical figures of Religion and Faith, and on the bronze throne, a relief with the Decapitation of St Stefano. At the right is a painting by Giorgio Vasari, with the Entombment of St Stefano (1571), while at the right is a Birth of Christ (1564) by Bronzino.

In the Sacristy is a sculptural group by Foggini of St Stefano and the allegory of Reason and the Trinity (1683), made in occasion of the translation of the body of the saint to this church in 1682.

The chapel of the Holy Sacrament was completed in 1837 by Florido Galli.

Organ

There are three organs in the church, the first from 1571 by the Cortonese organ-maker Onofrio Zeffirini. On the left is an organ by the Sienese Azzolino Bernardino della Ciaja reconstructed in 1733. In 1931, Giovanni Tamburini builds a new organ behind the 1733 organ. The modern organ is the only functioning one in the church.

  • Interior
    Interior
  • Ottoman and Saracen Standards
    Ottoman and Saracen Standards
  • Jacopo Ligozzi, The Cavalieri di Santo Stefano return from the Battle of Lepanto
    Jacopo Ligozzi, The Cavalieri di Santo Stefano return from the Battle of Lepanto
  • Giorgio Vasari, Entombment di Santo Stefano
    Giorgio Vasari, Entombment di Santo Stefano

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri". Expedia. Expedia Inc. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
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