GROSSETO, DIOCESE OF. - A city, provincial capital, and diocese in Tuscany. The diocese comprises 38 parishes with approximately 100,000 Catholics, 62 diocesan priests and 29 regular clergy, and one seminary.
The diocese was established by Pope Innocent II on 9 April 1138 through the suppression of the diocese of Roselle. The see remained vacant from 1858 to 1867. Since 1925, the bishop has served as Apostolic Delegate for the Tuscan portion of the Abbey of SS. Vincenzo and Anastasio alle Tre Fontane. It is first recorded as a fief of the Aldobrandeschi family.
The Cathedral, dedicated to St Lawrence, was built between 1190 and 1250, but was rebuilt by Sozzo di Pace Rustinchini of Siena in 1294 and subsequently restored several times. To the left stands the bell tower (1402), also repeatedly rebuilt. The façade features bands of white marble alternating with red marble from Caldana. Above the architrave is Christ between the Four Evangelists; in the lunette, the Madonna and Child with two angels, a copy by C. Maccari from the oratory of S. Bernardino in Siena by Giovanni d’Agostino.
The interior is in the shape of a Latin cross with three naves divided by pillars, restored in 1540, 1666–69, and 1858–65. The baptismal font is by the Sienese Antonio di Ser Ghino (1744); in the transept, to the right, a wooden Crucifix of the 15th century; to the left, the venerated chapel of the Madonna delle Grazie, with a dorsal by Antonio di Ghino, containing the panel of the Assumption attributed to Matteo di Giovanni, while in the presbytery is part of a triptych of St Peter with St Anthony and St Jerome. Other churches include that of St Francis, with a single nave and two wooden Crucifixes, one from the early 14th century and the other from the 15th; beside the church is a cloister with a well-head. The church of St Peter has a Romanesque apse. Grosseto possesses a civic museum, whose rooms were damaged in the war, and a notable ecclesiastical museum containing works of art formerly in the Duomo, the church of the Misericordia, and elsewhere. The most noteworthy are the Madonna delle Ciglie, a masterpiece by Stefano di Giovanni known as il Sestetta (1392–1450); the Madonna dell’Uccellino attributed to Pietro Lorenzetti; a small panel with a Crucifixion, the Virgin and St John (first half of the 14th century); a Madonna called della Sanità (14th century), from a demolished oratory; there are also 13th-century choir books and a Byzantine bowl depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac.