Santa Maria delle Grazie, Pistoia

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Facade of Santa Maria delle Grazie

Santa Maria delle Grazie, also known as Madonna del Letto (of the cot), is a Renaissance-style, Roman Catholic church located near the city center in Pistoia, region of Tuscany, Italy.

History[]

According to tradition, in 1336, a young girl convalescing at the then Hospital of San Donnino was cured of her illness by a vision of the Virgin Mary. The room of that hospital became an oratory at this site, and in the 15th-century, this church was erected, conserving the bed (letto) in which the miracle occurred in one of the chapels. The bed is still kept in a chapel of the church. The construction lasted until 1484, with the intervention at the time of completion by . In 1526, an adjacent Augustinian monastery was established, under the supervision of the cathedral and the Operai di San Jacopo. The church was consecrated in 1535. After the suppression in the late 18th-century, the church was assigned to what was then the adjacent Hospital del Ceppo. It subsequently became a parish church.[1]

The interior decoration with bands of decorative strips, airy nave with free-standing columns, and apse dome recalls the work of Michelozzo. The stone facade has a large round oculus and a portal flanked by elegant pilasters. The tympanum above the portal contains a bas-relief of two checkered-caped bears (symbols of Pistoia) holding the reiterated checkered coat of arms of Pistoia. An inventory from 1821 recalls the following works: [2]

  • Martyrdom of Saint Catherine by Giovanni Battista Naldini for the Rospigliosi altar
  • Virgin of the Annunciation by for the dal Gallo altar
  • Virgin of the Assumption by Antonio Circignani dalle Pomarance
  • Madonna and Child, a 14th Century fresco painted to recall the miracle, and place on main altar
  • Coronation of the Virgin by Benedetto Orsi in one of the lunnettes
  • Enthroned Madonna and Saints by Lorenzo di Credi
  • Massacre of the Innocents by Francesco Marchesini
  • Virgin and other Saints by Bastiano Veronese for the altar
  • Marble busts of Pietro Forteguerri and his brother, the Cardinal Niccolò Forteguerri by
  • Virgin of the Assumption by Alessandro Fei for the Altar Sozzifanti

References[]

  1. ^ Diocese of Pistoia.
  2. ^ Guida di Pistoia per'gli amanti delle Belle Arti, by Francesco Tolomei, Pistoia (1821): pages 80-81.

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