The Church of Santa Maria della Spina is located in that place since 1871: before it was closer to the river Arno. In its original position, it suffered severe damage to its foundations, and for this reason it was pulled down stone by stone and rebuilt higher up.
Originally a small oratory, it was rebuilt in the Gothic period as a richly decorated church. It owes its name to its possession of a thorn (spina) from Christ's crown of thorns, brought to Pisa from the Holy Land. The thorn is now conserved in the Church of Santa Chiara, adjoining the hospital of the same name.
The west front is surmounted by three gables and has two doorways, with small rose-windows in the gables above. In the centre is a baldachin with a statue of the Virgin and Child with Saints by G. di Balduccio. The south side of the church has a seirers of arches enclosing doorways and multiple windows and, higher up, an aedicule (niche) with figures of Christ and the Apostles.
The building is crowned by tabernacles containing statues, some of them now replaced by copies.
Where: Lungarno Gambacorti 56125 - Pisa
Ph: 050-21441
Fax: 050-21441
Web: www.pisaturismo.it
