GROSSETO, Diocese of. - City, provincial capital and diocese of Tuscany. The diocese comprises 38 parishes with about 100,000 Catholics, 62 diocesan priests and 29 regulars, and a seminary.
The diocese was created by Pope Innocent II on 9 April 1138 by the suppression of that of Roselle. The diocese remained vacant from 1858 to 1867. Since 1925 the bishop is apostolic delegate for the Tuscan part of the abbey of Sts. Vincent and Anastasius at the Tre Fontane. It is remembered for the first time as a fief of the Aldobrandeschi family.
The Cathedral, dedicated to St. Lawrence, was erected between 1190 and 1250, but was rebuilt by Sozzo di Pace Rustichini of Siena in 1294 and subsequently restored several times. On the left stands the bell tower (1402), likewise repeatedly rebuilt. The facade is in bands of white marble alternating with red bands of Caldana marble. On the architrave Jesus Christ between the four Evangelists; in the lunette the Madonna and Child between two angels, a copy by C. Maccari from the oratory of St. Bernardino in Siena by Giovanni d'Agostino.
The interior is in the form of a Latin cross with 3 naves divided by pillars, restored in 1540, in 1666-69 and in 1858-65. The baptismal font is by the Sienese Antonio di Ser Ghino, of 1474; in the transept, on the right, a wooden Crucifix, of the 15th century; on the left the venerated chapel of the Madonna delle Grazie, with a dossal by Antonio di Ghino, which contains the panel of the Assumption, held to be a work of Matteo di Giovanni, while in the presbytery there is part of a triptych by Sano di Pietro with St. Anthony and St. Jerome. Other churches are that of St. Francis, with a single nave, with two wooden Crucifixes, one from the beginning of the 14th century, the other from the 15th: beside the church a cloister with a well-head; the church of St. Peter with a Romanesque apse. G. possesses a Civic Museum, whose rooms were damaged by the war, and a notable Sacred Museum containing works of art formerly in the Cathedral, in the church of the Misericordia and elsewhere. The most remarkable are the Madonna of the Cherries, a masterpiece of Stefano di Giovanni known as il Sassetta (1392-1450); the Madonna of the Little Bird attributed to Pietro Lorenzetti; a small panel with Crucifix, the Virgin and St. John (first half of the 14th century); a Madonna known as della Sanità (14th century), coming from a demolished oratory, etc.; there are also choir books of the 13th century and a Byzantine cup with the sacrifice of Isaac.
Bibliography3 works
1295-1304 (Studi e testi, 98). Città del Vaticano 1942, pp. 185, 187, 189-90; Eubel, I, pp. 268-69; II, p. 161; III, p. 222; IV, pp. 197-98.
Enrico Josi