PISTOIA, DIOCESI. — City and diocese, provincial capital in Tuscany. The diocese, already existing in the 5th century, was declared by Martin V in 1420 to be a suffragan of Florence. The territory of the diocese encompasses part of the Arno valley, the valleys of the Ombrone and Bisenzio, of Nievole and the Pescia, as well as part of the upper Reno valley; it is for the most part hilly and mountainous, bordering the dioceses of Modena and Bologna and, farther downstream, those of Prato, Florence, Pescia, S. Miniato, and Lucca. In the 18th century P. ceded the parish church of Massarella to Pescia; but in 1784, through the action of Pietro Leopoldo, while he reduced the urban parishes to only 11 and the city’s monasteries to 3, it acquired the districts of Treppio and Sambuca, detached from Bologna; in 1814 it received the county of Vernio.
The extent of the diocesan territory (including the diocese of Prato [v.]) is 1083 sq km, and its population (including the diocese of Prato) is 262,403 inhabitants. There are 169 parishes and 25 rural vicariates. Priests: 250. The diocese possesses 7 religious houses for men and 50 for women. As early as 1446, through a concession of Eugene IV, it had a college of clerics, with the rules and privileges already granted to the famous Eugenian College of Florence. In 1690 Bishop Leone Strozzi founded the Seminary, which was enlarged by Bishop Colombino Bassi, until Bishop Scipione de' Ricci transferred it to the suppressed monastery of S. Chiara. The patron of the diocese is s. Iacopo the Apostle.
I. CIVIL HISTORY. — Pistorium arose along the Via Cassia, in the valley of the Ombrone, at the foot of the Apennine foothills, perhaps in the first century B.C. It was already a city under the Roman Republic: in the year 690 of Rome, Catiline’s army was defeated in its territory by the forces of Antonius. Pliny the Naturalist lists P., which belonged to the Vebina tribe, among the cities forming the Tuscia annonaria. Information about P. during the first four centuries A.D. is very scarce. It appears that during the rule of Theodoric it enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity. It came under the Ostrogoths and the Byzantines; around 590 it fell under the rule of the Lombards, although it is uncertain whether this occurred peacefully or after being subdued by force. Under Liutprand it minted coins. Meanwhile, in the heart of the city, there arose the tower of the guardingo, from which an armed guard watched over the city itself; the supreme magistrate was the gastaldo. In the Carolingian period it was governed by a count. It then came under Matilda of Canossa; subsequently it was ruled by the elders, the podestà, and the captain of the people. Later it too was divided into factions, with the Guelphs and the Ghibellines prevailing by turns, represented respectively by the Cancellieri and the Panciatichi families. They fought among themselves with varying success, sharing the fortunes that the Guelphs and Ghibellines experienced in nearby Florence. And when the Guelphs in that city divided, the Cancellieri sided with the Blacks, the Panciatichi with the Whites. Caught between Lucca and Florence, it endured attacks now from the one, now from the other. In 1301 the Blacks were expelled from it (s. P. in pria dei Negri si dimagra: Dante, Inf., XXIV, V. 143). Castruccio Castracani, lord of Lucca, then brought it under his obedience; subsequently it came under the political hegemony of Florence. Near P., at Gavinana, Ferrucci met his death in 1530, defending Florentine liberty against the imperial forces. Once the duchy and grand duchy had been established, P. too came under the sovereignty of the Medici, and then of the Lorraine dynasty; it experienced the French occupation and, after the shifting political fortunes that preceded the end of the grand duchy, became, like the rest of Tuscany, part of the Kingdom of Italy.
II. RELIGIOUS HISTORY. — Reliable data are lacking for determining the period and circumstances in which Christianity was introduced into the territory of P. It is certain, however, that by the end of the fifth century the bishopric in P. had already been established, if Pope Gelasius I (492–96) complained that a bishop of P. had paid homage to King Theodoric before venerating the limina Apostolorum. In 556 Pelagius I excommunicated a bishop of P., whose name is unknown, because during divine worship he mentioned the name of the Pontiff. In 716 a bitter dispute arose between the bishop of P. and that of Lucca over jurisdictional matters, adjudicated by an envoy of King Liutprand. The eighth century, during which the name of a bishop Giovanni is known, elected by the clergy and people, was a fertile period for the diocese in terms of monastic foundations. Even earlier, a hermit named Baronto, later venerated as a saint, had lived a life of penance in the Pistoian mountains; later the hermit Pietro became renowned. Meanwhile, famous abbeys arose, of which the diocese eventually possessed fourteen. Among them are the abbey of S. Baronto at Montalbano (eleventh century) and that of Montepiano (eleventh century); the abbeys of S. Bartolomeo (eighth century) and S. Michele in Forcole (eighth century); and those of S. Salvatore di Vaiano and S. Maria di Grignano. It is known of Bishop Lamprando that in 826 he took part in a council under Eugenius II; in 844 Bishop Gansprando attended in Rome the coronation of Lodovico, king of Italy; in 870 Oschisio was the Emperor’s legate in Calabria; and in 963 Giovanni took part in a Roman Synod convened by Otto I. Other names of bishops from this period are Asterio, Uberto, Rambaldo, and Antonio.
It is certain that, in the period before the year 1000 and shortly thereafter, the bishops of P. enjoyed great authority and exercised feudal jurisdiction over castles and lands in the diocese, including Quarrata and Lamporecchio, although the rising Commune opposed them. Even earlier, their pre-eminence was attested by the annual tribute of a pellia cervina from certain populations of the Maremma. In the eleventh century, the episcopate of the Vallombrosan Pietro of the Guidi counts was distinguished; Countess Matilde had chosen him as successor to Bishop Leone, who died in 1085. No less illustrious on the see of P. was the other Vallombrosan, Atto, venerated as a saint, who contributed greatly to spreading the cult of s. Iacopo in P. It was then that the cathedral, originally dedicated to s. Martino and rebuilt and consecrated in the eighth century to s. Zeno, venerated by the Lombards, was rebuilt ex novo: it contained the “sacristy of the beautiful furnishings,” robbed by Vanni Fucci (Dante, Inf., XXIV, V. 138). It subsequently underwent further alterations and restorations in 1443, carried out by Bishop Donato dei Medici, and others in 1600. The bishops also zealously promoted the discipline of the clergy and the people by legislating in numerous synods. The first was that of Bishop Ermanno in 1308; the Synod of Bishop Diamanti dates from 1406. After the Council of Trent came that of Bishop Lattanzio Lattanzi, followed by others in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, up to the one held by Colombino Bassi in 1721. Then came the episcopate of Scipione de' Ricci, whose Synod, held in 1786 with regalist and Jansenist tendencies and with the participation also of elements external to the Pistoian clergy, was never approved or well received by the latter; the innovations he attempted in worship likewise encountered popular hostility. As a result, Ricci had to renounce the see, to which Francesco Folchi succeeded and who annulled the Synod itself. Pius VII condemned Ricci’s doctrines in the bull Auctorem fidei. Among the other bishops, Marcello Mazzanti should be remembered; his Synod took place in 1892.
III. ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONAGES
Mention should be made of the canon Sozomeno, a humanist who took part in the Council of Constance; the Jesuit Father Zaccaria, a highly erudite man of letters and writer; Cardinal Carlo Agostino Fabbroni, who played a major role in the constitution Unigenitus against the errors of Quesnel; Alessandro de' Medici, who passed from the bishopric of P. to the archbishopric of Florence and subsequently became pope under the name of Leone XI; Cardinal Giulio Rospigliosi, who held the highest offices in the Roman Curia and, elected pope, took the name of Clemente IX; Bishop Colombino Bassi, wholeft a reputation for outstanding virtues in the diocese; the canon Antonio Longinelli, who died in 1800, a hostage in France; Monsignor Enrico Bindi, an erudite commentator on the classics who was later promoted from the see of P. to the archbishopric of Siena.
dell'anno 1786, Pistoia 1788; F. Tolomei, Guida di P., there 1821; E. Repetti, Dizionario geografico fisico storico della Toscana, IV, Firenze 1841, p. 401 and following; Cappelletti, XVII, p. 73 and following; V. CAPPONI, GINO, Bibliografia pistoiese, Pistoia 1878; G. Arcangeli, Brevi notizie sul Seminario collegio vescovile di P., Pistoia 1891; G. Besni, La cattedrale di P., there 1904; P. Kehr, Italia pontificia, III, Berlino 1908, pp. 117-43; G. Besni, La Chiesa pistoiese, Pistoia 1912; N. Rodolico, Gli amici e i tempi di Scipione de' Ricci, Firenze 1920; Maya, P. artistica, Pistoia 1927; L. Chiappelli, Storia di P. nell'alto medioevo, there 1932; R. Matteucci, Scipione dei Ricci, Brescia 1941. Emilio Sanesi
IV. SYNOD OF P
It was held in the church of the seminary and of the ecclesiastical Academy of S. Leopoldo, from the morning of 18 to the afternoon of 28 Sept. 1786, under the direction of de' Ricci (v.) and the protection of Leopoldo, grand duke of Tuscany, from whom, rather than from the Pope, it was said in the inaugural address that «permission had come for so many able theologians to attend it in the firm confidence that the grace of the Lord would dispel the spirit of darkness and division».French and Dutch Jansenists collaborated in it, and it was prepared by the best-known Italian Jansenists, who were present at least morally; it cannot therefore be considered a provincial or regional episode, but rather almost the epilogue of the Jansenist trajectory from Leuven to Port-Royal and Utrecht, and the point of convergence between the errors of the Jansenist movement and other related or adventitious errors such as Gallicanism, Richterism and the like.
There were seven sessions and ten congregations that prepared them, three extraordinary and seven ordinary. Two hundred and fifty priests took part, compelled by the bishop’s predominance and by often violent methods; from the diocese of Pistoia, the parish priests, chaplains with pastoral charge and canons by right, who were called «Fathers of the Council»; and the secular and regular priests expressly invited, who were called «concelebrants»; among these TAMBURINI, PIETRO (v.), to whom—and especially to the latter, who was its promoter—the drafting of the individual decrees was entrusted. De' Ricci was its president, and Giuseppe Paribeni its vice-president and the Grand Duke’s legate. From a nearby villa Leopoldo followed its proceedings. The Synod, soon dubbed the «Pistoian comedy», took place amid the fear of the Pistoian parish priests and clergy, most of whom were unaware of the violence employed to obtain their signatures, which nevertheless were unanimous only in appearance; and amid the exultation of the numerous Jansenists or extra-diocesan Gallicans present, who thus believed that they had secured the definitive success of heresy. The acts were published in full, and the propositions condemning the bull Auctorem Fidei of 28 Aug. 1794 mark its deviations. Of the 85 principal propositions extracted from the synodal constitutions and arranged under 44 headings according to the various subjects, 7 were condemned as heretical and the others proscribed with different censures, often according to the multiple meanings they could bear (false, rash, scandalous, proximate to heresy, etc.). The praise attributed to the Gallican Articles of 1682, maliciously inserted in the decree on faith, was likewise stigmatized, and the judgment already pronounced against them by Innocent XI and Alexander VIII was renewed. This condemnation became necessary because the acts of the Synod had been disseminated throughout Europe. A Latin codex in the Vatican Library states: «a printer in Livorno has commissioned 18,000 copies to send them to Spain and France», and from Spain Cardinal Lorenzana and the nuncio warned that they could no longer prevent the acts from being reprinted in Spanish without a prior formal condemnation. French, Austrian, German, Dutch and Polish ecclesiastics and laymen adhered to the Synod. The schismatic Church of Utrecht, the archbishop of Salzburg, Colloredo, and French abbots such as Bellegarde, Maultrot and Clement, through their letters; Nouvelles ecclésiastiques, Gazette universelle, Gazette d'Europe and Gazette française among the periodicals, exalted the Pistoian conciliabulum, whose decrees immediately appeared in three editions, Italian, Latin and French. As a complement to the Synod, as had been hoped, there was to be a national Council «in Florence to put an end to all the rumours and manoeuvres that the court of Rome and its adherents might attempt». This attempt was rendered futile by the Tuscan bishops (v. GIANSENIO E GIANSENISMO; DE' RICCI, SCIPIONE); and the schismatic design, like the Jansenist heresy, may be considered historically concluded in the bull of condemnation.
Benvenuto Matteucci
V. ARTE
The first artistic manifestations in P. date from the Romanesque period. Indeed, the city’s present appearance depends largely on buildings from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The only surviving remnant of Roman monuments, apart from the plan of the city, which can for the most part be reconstructed, is a private dwelling from the third century A.D. with fine mosaic pavements.Romanesque architecture has distinctive characteristics in this city, where forms of minute ornamentation, predominantly of Pisan and also Florentine origin, became widespread. The polychrome and ornamental effect often becomes overwhelming and prevents the architectural structures from standing out in those organically integrated forms typical of Romanesque architecture as a whole. The S. Giovanni fuorcivitas, the cathedral rebuilt in the twelfth century, S. Paolo, S. Bartolomeo in Pantano, and S. Andrea, with its unusual central nave, very high and narrow, all belong to this movement. A characteristic of the Pistoian Romanesque churches is the absence of a transept. In 1166 Gruamonte, « magister bonus », together with his brother Adeodato and a master Enrico, worked on the architrave of the portal of S. Andrea, revealing himself as a follower of that Guglielmo who had executed the pulpit for the cathedral of Pisa (now in the cathedral of Cagliari). It is probable that the same sculptor, perhaps with the same collaborators, worked the following year on the architrave of the portal of S. Bartolomeo in Pantano; and later, without assistance, on that of S. Giovanni fuorcivitas. The pulpit of S. Michele in Groppoli, in the environs of the city, dated 1194, reveals influences from Guglielmo’s art, probably
learned by the anonymous master through Gruamonte. Guido Bigarelli da Como, who had executed the baptismal font of Pisa in 1246, worked with assistants on the pulpit of S. Bartolomeo in Pantano in 1250. Guido brought the Lombard tradition to P., at least in its characteristics of simplicity and relief, sought in contrast with hollow space, even when softened and polished. Influences of Guido da Como’s manner can be discerned in the anonymous master who sculpted the portal of the church of S. Pier Maggiore. Romanesque painting did not undergo significant development in P.; worth recalling in the cathedral is the large painted cross executed in 1274 by Coppo di Marcovaldo in collaboration with his son Salerno. In the fourteenth century, Sienese and Florentine architectural forms spread. The Palazzo comunale, begun in 1294 and enlarged in 1345 by the Sienese Simone di Ser Memmo, displays unequivocally Sienese characteristics as a whole, although its loggia links it to Lombard public palaces. The local architect Cellino di Nese (1337–59) executed the octagonal baptistery, perhaps following a design by Andrea Pisano, and he himself probably supplied the design for the Palazzo di Giustizia in 1367.
In the field of sculpture, Pisan sculptors were predominantly active in P. during the fourteenth century. In 1270 the most faithful follower of Nicola Pisano, fra' Guglielmo, executed the pulpit of S. Giovanni fuorcivitas. In 1273 Nicola worked on the altar of the church of S. Jacopo, now destroyed; the holy-water stoup of S. Giovanni fuorcivitas might also be assigned to that year, a work revealing the hand of Giovanni Pisano still at the beginning of his career, in close relation to Nicola’s sculptural forms. Between 1298 and 1301, Giovanni Pisano then executed the pulpit of the church of S. Andrea, his principal work, commissioned by Arnoldo degli Arnoldi. The probable authors of the tomb of Cino da P. (1337–59) were the Sienese Agostino di Giovanni and Agnolo di Ventura.
The modest Pistoian painting of the fourteenth century was likewise dominated by the Florentine tradition during the first half of the century. In the second half, however, Emilian influences predominated, as can be seen in the frescoes of S. Domenico and in the paintings of the Chapter House of S. Francesco, works by Emilian artists and Pistoian masters under their influence. The Bolognese Dalmazio de' Scannabecchi and his son Lippo settled in P. for a long period, exerting a broad influence on local painting.
During the Renaissance, P.’s importance in the history of art became very limited. Florentine masters, both painters and sculptors, predominated in the field. In 1477 Lorenzo di Credi painted the Madonna di Piazza for the cathedral. The Museo civico preserves works by Cosimo Rosselli, by the school of Botticelli, and by Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio. In 1477 Verrocchio began the monument to Cardinal Niccolò Forteguerri for the cathedral; it was continued by followers and partly dismantled in the eighteenth century. In 1487 Antonio Rossellino executed the bas-relief portrait of Donato de' Medici, also in the cathedral, while his brother Bernardo, with his collaboration, executed the monument to Filippo Lazzi in S. Domenico. Andrea della Robbia, with assistants, decorated the central door of the cathedral with a terracotta relief in 1505, while the decoration of the Ospedale del Ceppo is attributed to Giovanni della Robbia. — Vedi tav. CXI.