Chiesa di Santa Maria del Carmine — Attraction in Pisa

The church stands at the bottom of the square of the same name which opens to the left of the current Corso Italia, the ancient via S. Gilio (or S. Egidio). Founded by Carmelite friars in 1325, the church with the adjoining convent underwent radical transformations between the second half of the sixteenth century and 1612, the year of its reconsecration. There was extensive damage during the Second World War, as demonstrated by the reconstruction of the exposed concrete truss roof, built in 1965. The fourteenth-century forms were completely hidden inside by the reorganization of the furnishings decided by the Council of Trent, in particular from the replacement of the ancient altars with Baroque ones, while on the outside it is still possible to recognize the original Gothic brick structure (northern side). Of note is the construction, starting from 1425, of the chapel commissioned by the notary Giuliano di Colino degli Scarsi, for which Masaccio created the large altarpiece now dismembered between Pisa ( Museum of S. Matteo , S. Paolo), London ( National Gallery), Berlin (Staatliche Museen), Naples (Capodimonte Museum) and Malibu (Paul...

Visited here in July 2018. The Church was a pleasant enough experience with its artwork and artefacts. Unfortunately it was let down by the attitude of its Sacristan. My young daughter has a chronic illness and needed some rest. We sought brief sanctuary in the Church (15 mins) at the end of this period she desperately needed to use the toilet. There was a toilet sign on a door in the Cloister but this was locked. We found the Sacristan (or caretaker) and spoke to him through a half open door - he couldn’t even do us the courtesy of opening the door fully. He answered our request with “this is a Church, not a drop in”! As we pleaded he disappeared for 5 mins to “ask” before coming back and flatly refusing. By this time my daughter was in tears. There was not one ounce of Christianity in this “gentleman” but there was a whole lot of Italian! A horrible experience for a Catholic...

La facciata, ottocentesca, si prospetta nella sua semplicità architettonica, non chiedendo nulla a chi si sofferma ad ammirarla. L'interno, a navata unica, ricostruito unitamente al chiostro, a seguito dei bombardamenti della seconda guerra mondiale, è ricchissimo di decorazioni pittoriche, cinquecentesce e seicentesche, realizzate da artisti i cui nomi oggi risulterebbero misconosciuti alla totalità dei visitatori. Una splendida cantoria marmorea sopra la quale troneggia un magnifico organo seicentesco, abbellisce la navata prospiciente il presbiterio. L'assunzione della Vergine di Santi di Tito, l'ascensione di Cristo di Alessandro Allori, una Madonna con Santi di Baccio Lomi e il San Sebastiano del Mazzucchelli, risplendono alla vista di chi si sofferma davanti gli altari che ospitano queste magnifiche tele. Un plauso agli studenti del liceo XXV aprile di Pontedera che hanno reinterpretato nell'attualità il polittico del Masaccio le cui parti sono andate disperse e che ne hanno dato una configurazione di forte suggestione realistica visibile...