PESCIA, DIOCESE OF
Palazzo comunale (14th–15th centuries).
It has 87,418 Catholics distributed in 43 parishes served by 82 diocesan priests and 31 religious; there are 7 male and 23 female religious communities (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 316).
Christianity was introduced from Lucca, to whose diocese the Valdinievole and the Valleriana remained subject until 1519. A document of 901 by Bishop Gherardo of Lucca refers to P. as a “plebs baptismalis,” a title repeated in later documents; it is certain that its consecration took place on 7 July 1062. From the beginning it held importance and privileges, until on 15 April 1519 Leo X, at the urging of his datary Monsignor Baldassarre Turini, a native of Pescia, raised the pieve to the rank of a distinguished collegiate church and a provostship, with its own territory and jurisdiction, immediately subject to the Holy See, separating it from Lucca. In 1726 Pope Benedict XIII, by a bull of 14 September, raised the provostship to the status of a bishopric, keeping the new diocese immediately subject to the Holy See. The last provost, Paolo Antonio Pesenti, was named first bishop. Owing to difficulties, however, the papal bull was fully executed only on 26 January 1729. Since 3 October 1855 the diocese has been a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Pisa.
In the city noteworthy are the small temple called “Pie’ di Piazza” by Andrea Cavalcanti, with a fine fresco of the venerated Madonna delle Grazie; the magnificent church of San Francesco with the panel of the Saint by Bonaventura Berlinghieri, and the Cappella Cardini also by Andrea Cavalcanti, besides numerous canvases, panels, and frescoes of merit; the little church of Sant’Antonio Abate, likewise rich in fine frescoes. The Collegiate Church of Saints Stephen and Nicholas also possesses some good paintings; besides its handsome stone bell tower, it preserves on the exterior ample traces of ancient architecture.
In the diocese should be noted the grand pieve of Castelvecchio di Valleriana and the church of the Hospitallers in Pescia. CATHEDRAL OF PESCIA – Rebuilt in 1693. Bell tower of 1306.