Pisa, the important church that housed Giotto and Cimabue has been closed for two years: pro-restoration committee born

The church of St. Francis in Pisa, one of the most important and oldest in the city, continues to be in a disastrous state: the building has been closed for two years, since April 12, 2016 to be precise, due to the risk of roof collapse (already affected by a collapse shortly before the closure), and it is in early April that news broke of the postponement of the agreement between the Superintendency of Pisa, the MiBACT General Secretariat and the Pisa Foundation, which would have formalized the donation of 2.4 million euros, by the Pisa Foundation, to be allocated to the restorations needed to solve the church’s stability problems. The Foundation then set an ultimatum to the Superintendency, specifying that if the agreement is not signed by the end of May, no donation will be made: this is because the Foundation cannot keep its funds locked up for too long. The postponement, on the other hand, was determined by the fact that some clauses of the agreement have yet to be finalized, and the General Secretariat has let it be known that some verifications are needed.

In order to speed up the timetable, therefore, the Pro-Restoration Committee of St. Francis Church was born, calling for decisive action: the first meeting is set for this evening, Thursday, April 26, 2018, at 8:30 p.m., in the premises of the convent in St. Francis Square. The parish invites all citizens to attend: “The invitation,” they specify in a note, “is open to all those citizens who want the church of St. Francis to reopen as soon as possible and the work for its total recovery to begin expeditiously. Two years have already passed, it is time to really get busy.” In all, the restoration work amounts to about 4 million euros, of which 730,000 (for verification and reduction of seismic risk and part of the restoration) have already been allocated by the ministry, and taking out the 2.4 million from the Foundation it would take another 700,000 or so to arrive at the sum budgeted by the Superintendency. The work is expected to take three years.

The church of St. Francis, one of the city’s largest houses of worship, dates back to the 13th century but was completed in 1603 with the addition of a marble facade, and the 17th century also saw the renovation of the interior. The building houses paintings by Santi di Tito, Jacopo Chimenti known as l’Empoli, and Domenico Crespi known as il Passignano, as well as frescoes by Taddeo Gaddi, Galileo Chini, Taddeo di Bartolo, and Niccolò di Pietro Gerini. In the past, the work also housed Giotto ’s Stigmata of St. Francis and Cimabue’s Madonna Enthroned, both of which are now in the Louvre, where they arrived following the Napoleonic spoliations.

Pictured: the church of San Francesco in Pisa. Ph. Credit Paolo Fisicaro

Pisa, the important church that housed Giotto and Cimabue has been closed for two years: pro-restoration committee born

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