Description
The church of Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri stands in piazza dei Cavalieri, in the center of Pisa: a white marble church full of flags captured from enemy ships. It tells the story of the Order founded by Cosimo I to fight piracy in the Mediterranean.
Cosimo I de' Medici laid the first stone on April 17, 1565. The design was by Giorgio Vasari, who had the old church of San Sebastiano demolished so he could work freely. It was consecrated in 1569.
The white Carrara marble façade is not his: the design of don Giovanni de' Medici, Cosimo's stepson, was preferred. It has two orders with columns and pilasters, and at the top the coat of arms of the Medici and of the Order. The bell tower, added in 1570-1572, is to Vasari's design.
Inside, everything celebrates the knights' deeds. On the walls hang flags torn from Islamic ships between the mid-16th and the early 18th century, and old ship lanterns between the windows.
Don't miss the gilded wooden ceiling, carved by Bartolomeo Atticciati in 1604. It has six panels on the Order's exploits, among them the Investiture of Cosimo I by Cigoli and the Return of the Fleet from Lepanto by Jacopo Ligozzi.
Then the Stoning of Saint Stephen, painted by Vasari himself in 1571, and Bronzino's Nativity of 1564. In the presbytery Foggini's high altar, in polychrome marbles and gilded bronze, stands over the urn with the saint's relics, which arrived from Trani in 1682.
The inner façade wall and the sides keep fragments of carved wood with figures of Turkish slaves, animals and weapons: according to tradition, part of a parade boat of the Order. They date from the late 17th century.
The two side aisles were not planned. The church began with a single nave, but after the suppression of the Order in 1859, two side structures, used first as the knights' changing rooms and storerooms, were turned into spaces like aisles.
In the 17th century the walls filled up with canvases by the great Florentine painters. The large organ by Giovanni Tamburini, from 1914, has three keyboards and occupies the choir lofts designed by Vasari on either side of the altar.
Cosimo I de' Medici laid the first stone on April 17, 1565. The design was by Giorgio Vasari, who had the old church of San Sebastiano demolished so he could work freely. It was consecrated in 1569.
The white Carrara marble façade is not his: the design of don Giovanni de' Medici, Cosimo's stepson, was preferred. It has two orders with columns and pilasters, and at the top the coat of arms of the Medici and of the Order. The bell tower, added in 1570-1572, is to Vasari's design.
Inside, everything celebrates the knights' deeds. On the walls hang flags torn from Islamic ships between the mid-16th and the early 18th century, and old ship lanterns between the windows.
Don't miss the gilded wooden ceiling, carved by Bartolomeo Atticciati in 1604. It has six panels on the Order's exploits, among them the Investiture of Cosimo I by Cigoli and the Return of the Fleet from Lepanto by Jacopo Ligozzi.
Then the Stoning of Saint Stephen, painted by Vasari himself in 1571, and Bronzino's Nativity of 1564. In the presbytery Foggini's high altar, in polychrome marbles and gilded bronze, stands over the urn with the saint's relics, which arrived from Trani in 1682.
The inner façade wall and the sides keep fragments of carved wood with figures of Turkish slaves, animals and weapons: according to tradition, part of a parade boat of the Order. They date from the late 17th century.
The two side aisles were not planned. The church began with a single nave, but after the suppression of the Order in 1859, two side structures, used first as the knights' changing rooms and storerooms, were turned into spaces like aisles.
In the 17th century the walls filled up with canvases by the great Florentine painters. The large organ by Giovanni Tamburini, from 1914, has three keyboards and occupies the choir lofts designed by Vasari on either side of the altar.