Description
The Convento di San Benedetto, on Piazza Monte Oliveto in Pistoia, is an Olivetan monastery founded in 1380 near the western walls, with its single-nave church: here, in 1786, the famous Synod of Pistoia was held.
The church is fronted by a portico from 1630. Inside are the Annunciation by Giovanni Cristiani, from 1390, and a Saint Frances of Rome by Giacinto Gimignani; the 14th-century choir survives intact, with its ribbed Gothic vault. The small cloister has frescoes by Giovan Battista Vanni from 1660.
In 1782 Bishop Scipione de' Ricci had the monastery dissolved and turned it into an ecclesiastical academy; the church was renamed San Leopoldo, in honor of the Grand Duke. In 1786 the Synod that approved his Jansenist-inspired reforms met here.
In 1799 French troops turned it into barracks for about a thousand soldiers. The church got back the name of San Benedetto only in 1957.
The church is fronted by a portico from 1630. Inside are the Annunciation by Giovanni Cristiani, from 1390, and a Saint Frances of Rome by Giacinto Gimignani; the 14th-century choir survives intact, with its ribbed Gothic vault. The small cloister has frescoes by Giovan Battista Vanni from 1660.
In 1782 Bishop Scipione de' Ricci had the monastery dissolved and turned it into an ecclesiastical academy; the church was renamed San Leopoldo, in honor of the Grand Duke. In 1786 the Synod that approved his Jansenist-inspired reforms met here.
In 1799 French troops turned it into barracks for about a thousand soldiers. The church got back the name of San Benedetto only in 1957.