Santa Caterina d'Alessandria is a Gothic-style

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church in

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

History

Santa Caterina is mentioned for the first time in 1211, then associated with a hospital. The current edifice was built between 1251 and 1300, commissioned by

Saint Dominic Saint Dominic, (; 8 August 1170 – 6 August 1221), also known as Dominic de Guzmán (), was a Castilians, Castilian Catholic priest and the founder of the Dominican Order. He is the patron saint of astronomers and natural scientists, and he a ...

and entrusted to the friars of his order.Guida per il passeggiere di pittura, scultura, ed architettura Nella Citta di Pisa
by Pandolfo Titi, Lucca (1751), page 144. The façade (completed in 1326) has a pointed shape with white and grey marble, with, in the upper section, two order of small Gothic loggias and a central

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' wa ...

. The interior, after a fire in 1651, is on a single large hall. Renovated in the 18th century, it houses works by Lippo Memmi ('' Triumph of St Thomas'', 1323),

Fra Bartolomeo Fra Bartolomeo or Bartolommeo (, , ; 28 March 1472 – 31 October 1517), also known as Bartolommeo di Pagholo, Bartolommeo di San Marco, Bartolomeo di Paolo di Jacopo del Fattorino, and his original nickname Baccio della Porta, was an Ital ...

(''Madonna with Sts Peter and Paul'', 1511), Santi di Tito, Aurelio Lomi (''Martyrdom of St Catherine''), Raffaello Vanni, Pietro Dandini (all 16th-17th centuries) and marble sculptures by Andrea Pisano (Tomb of Archbishop Simone Saltarelli, 1343) and his son Nino Pisano ("Annunciation", 1368). Also notable is the tomb of Gherardo Compagni, decorated with a late 16th-century "Pietà" statue. The wooden pulpit from the 17th century, according to the tradition, was that from which St Thomas Acquinas preached. In 1320, Simone Martini painted for this church the '' Saint Catherine of Alexandria Polyptych'', one of his best known works. It was later moved to the San Matteo Museum in Pisa. The church is flanked by a bell tower with mullioned windows, attributed to Giovanni di Simone.

References

Sources

* *

External links

Page about the church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caterina Caterina Caterina Buildings and structures completed in 1300 Churches completed in the 1300s Gothic architecture in Pisa