Description
Piazza del Duomo is the heart of Pistoia: a large pedestrian rectangle where the cathedral, the bell tower, the baptistery and the palaces of the bishop, the city council and the courts stand side by side. Within a few dozen metres lies the whole history of the city.
At the centre of it all is the Cathedral of San Zeno, with its 15th-century portico, the pivot of the square together with its bell tower. Next to it, in the little square leading to Vicolo dei Battistini, rises the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Corte. All around, Romanesque and Gothic buildings close off the space.
On the other sides stand the old Bishops' Palace, now a museum, the Palazzo Comunale, once the Palace of the Elders and home to the Museo Civico, and the Palazzo Pretorio, which houses the law courts. To the north are the more recent Monte dei Paschi and Government palaces.
Look closely and you'll find the details many people miss: in the north-east corner peeks out the medieval Torre di Catilina, and on the east side a civic building incorporates the remains of the church of Santa Maria Cavaliera.
On Saturdays the square fills with the stalls of the weekly market. It's an ancient tradition: back in the days of the Holy Roman Empire the bishops had won the privilege of using the space in front of the cathedral for trade, and the function later spread to the whole square.
Under the paving lies Roman Pistoia. This is probably where the decumanus, which was the Via Cassia itself and partly matches today's Via degli Orafi, crossed the cardo, now Via dei Bracciolini: the forum must have stood at the crossroads.
In a trial excavation in the north-west corner, a paved stretch of the Cassia came to light. Two boundary stones found nearby suggest an even older Etruscan presence: today you can see them on the archaeological route beneath the Bishops' Palace.
The square took its present shape between the 10th and 11th centuries, but its west side was only completed in 1936, after the demolition of old buildings such as the Dogana del Sale, the salt customs house. When the walls were extended and other squares appeared, this one became known as Piazza Maggiore, or Piazza Grande.
Where the 20th-century Government Palace now stands there was once an unfinished-looking building that the people of Pistoia called the “Palazzaccio”, the ugly palace.
Don't miss
• The Cathedral of San Zeno and its bell tower.
• The Baptistery of San Giovanni in Corte.
• The archaeological route of the Bishops' Palace.
• The Torre di Catilina.
• The Saturday market.
Did you know?
• Pistoia's Roman cardo doesn't run north to south: the city seems to have been laid out around the Cassia, not oriented to the points of the compass.
At the centre of it all is the Cathedral of San Zeno, with its 15th-century portico, the pivot of the square together with its bell tower. Next to it, in the little square leading to Vicolo dei Battistini, rises the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Corte. All around, Romanesque and Gothic buildings close off the space.
On the other sides stand the old Bishops' Palace, now a museum, the Palazzo Comunale, once the Palace of the Elders and home to the Museo Civico, and the Palazzo Pretorio, which houses the law courts. To the north are the more recent Monte dei Paschi and Government palaces.
Look closely and you'll find the details many people miss: in the north-east corner peeks out the medieval Torre di Catilina, and on the east side a civic building incorporates the remains of the church of Santa Maria Cavaliera.
On Saturdays the square fills with the stalls of the weekly market. It's an ancient tradition: back in the days of the Holy Roman Empire the bishops had won the privilege of using the space in front of the cathedral for trade, and the function later spread to the whole square.
Under the paving lies Roman Pistoia. This is probably where the decumanus, which was the Via Cassia itself and partly matches today's Via degli Orafi, crossed the cardo, now Via dei Bracciolini: the forum must have stood at the crossroads.
In a trial excavation in the north-west corner, a paved stretch of the Cassia came to light. Two boundary stones found nearby suggest an even older Etruscan presence: today you can see them on the archaeological route beneath the Bishops' Palace.
The square took its present shape between the 10th and 11th centuries, but its west side was only completed in 1936, after the demolition of old buildings such as the Dogana del Sale, the salt customs house. When the walls were extended and other squares appeared, this one became known as Piazza Maggiore, or Piazza Grande.
Where the 20th-century Government Palace now stands there was once an unfinished-looking building that the people of Pistoia called the “Palazzaccio”, the ugly palace.
Don't miss
• The Cathedral of San Zeno and its bell tower.
• The Baptistery of San Giovanni in Corte.
• The archaeological route of the Bishops' Palace.
• The Torre di Catilina.
• The Saturday market.
Did you know?
• Pistoia's Roman cardo doesn't run north to south: the city seems to have been laid out around the Cassia, not oriented to the points of the compass.