San Miniato and its monuments

San Miniato is a town in the province of Pisa in Tuscany, the historic center of the city is located in a strategic position on a hill halfway between Florence and Pisa. Seat of a diocese, San Miniato is an important economic and industrial center of the leather area of Ponte a Egola and is famous for its white truffles and wine and oil products. The historic core of the town extends over three neighboring hills along the Arno plain with an intact medieval urban layout. The city is full of churches and noble palaces including: the eighteenth-century episcopal seminary; on the ground floor there are still the workshops of the artisans and the doors on which the shopkeepers placed the goods. With the advent of the eleventh century the town was the seat of the vicariate court and also had a center for the collection of taxes for the Holy Roman Empire. The Bishop's Palace presents the remains of the ancient thirteenth and fourteenth century buildings in the pointed arches. The chapel of the Assumption and of San Giovanni Battista, located inside the palace, is frescoed by Bamberini. The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta and San Genesio is located in the Prato del Duomo square; the exterior of the cathedral is characterized by a wall parameter, in the lower part there are three sixteenth-century portals in sandstone, each of which is surmounted by an architrave. Behind the cathedral is the rectangular bell tower with a clock that has two painted circular dials: one on the eastern side and one on the western side. The interior is in neo-Renaissance style with a Latin cross plan with a hall divided into three naves. The three naves are separated by two series of round arches resting on Ionic columns in faux polychrome marble. Inside there are precious frescoes and paintings on canvas. The Rocca di Federico II is a 13th century tower, destroyed during the Second World War and rebuilt in 1958, which has become a symbol of the city. The church of the Santissimo Crocifisso was built between 1705 and 1718, the Greek cross building very sober on the outside but with walls full of frescoes with scenes from the life of Christ. On the altar there is a painting depicting the risen Christ and on the tabernacle there is a rare wooden crucifix from the 10th century. The primitive-looking church of Santo Stefano was annexed in the fourteenth century to a hospital run by the regular canons of Sant'Antonio Abate of Vienne for those suffering from fire of Sant'Antonio, the Tau remains. The current appearance of the building is due to a series of transformations that took place between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the diocesan museum some church furnishings are preserved, including a terracotta bust depicting the Redeemer, a wooden tabernacle with the figure of the risen Christ and St. Francis Xavier in wooden bas-relief. The oratory of Saints Sebastian and Rocco built in 1524 to avert the danger of the plague was first dedicated to San Sebastiano and then in 1718 a relic of San Rocco was added. In the seminary there are two paintings depicting Angels with symbols of the passion. The church of San Domenico has a single nave with side chapels that were closed in the eighteenth century. Inside there are some frescoes by Bamberini, at the first altar there is a Madonna with Child and Saints Ludovico, Bertrando and Rosa. In the presbyter on the right there is the Samminiati chapel, on the left the sepulcher of Giovanni Chellini. Among the other works visible in the church there is a Bishop Sant'Anselmo, two pipe organs and the chapel of Sant'Ursula in the basement. To the right of the church is the cloister open on the two-level street, today it houses the municipal library. The church of SS Annunziata was built in 1522 with a central apse with a high octagonal drum that hides the dome. With the enlargement of the apse area in 1657, the altar in pietra serena was built which frames the fresco of the Annunziata. At the top of the dome there is a fresco by Bamberini celebrating the Coronation of the Virgin. Palazzo Grifoni dominates the square from a raised position and has a plaster façade with embossed ashlars along the sides that give the appearance of a fortress. On the back the building has a courtyard overlooking the panorama of the Valdarno.