Description
Piazza San Francesco is the large tree-lined square on the northwest side of Pistoia's center, laid out as a public garden: it was once common pasture, and for centuries it has been where the people of Pistoia meet and stroll.
The square is overlooked by the Church of San Francesco, begun in 1289, with its facade in bands of white and green marble. In the middle of the greenery stands the bronze War Memorial to the fallen of World War I, which Silvio Canevari modeled in 1925 with an eye to classical statuary.
At the end of the avenues, on the west side, rises the Pantheon of Illustrious Men: in the 19th century it was meant to honor Pistoia's famous sons such as Pope Clement IX, but for a long time it ended up housing a café-concert. On the south side, the former Casa del Balilla bears the names of its architects, Fagnoni and Michelucci, and the year 1928 carved on its doorway.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, for the feast of Saint James, horses raced in a ring around the edge of the square. Its name has changed often too: Pratum Comunis in the 13th century, Foro Buonaparte under the French, Piazza Mazzini in the late 19th century, and San Francesco again since 1926.
The square is overlooked by the Church of San Francesco, begun in 1289, with its facade in bands of white and green marble. In the middle of the greenery stands the bronze War Memorial to the fallen of World War I, which Silvio Canevari modeled in 1925 with an eye to classical statuary.
At the end of the avenues, on the west side, rises the Pantheon of Illustrious Men: in the 19th century it was meant to honor Pistoia's famous sons such as Pope Clement IX, but for a long time it ended up housing a café-concert. On the south side, the former Casa del Balilla bears the names of its architects, Fagnoni and Michelucci, and the year 1928 carved on its doorway.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, for the feast of Saint James, horses raced in a ring around the edge of the square. Its name has changed often too: Pratum Comunis in the 13th century, Foro Buonaparte under the French, Piazza Mazzini in the late 19th century, and San Francesco again since 1926.