I'm trying to stick to my three posts a day rule, and I like doing only one city per day, so this is a bit of a filler to stretch Pistoia out to three posts. Here are a couple more churches, San Francesco, in a more restrained stripe, and San Giovanni in a psychidelic stripe pattern.



We ended the day with dinner back at the hotel and then met Reza for some drinks.

Pistoia is home to a famous hospital complex, Ospedale del Ceppo, done by the same artists as the orphanage in Florence (the one with the lazy susan for unwanted babies). It's a very elegant space, and along the courtyard is a remarkably well preserved series of frescoes recounting the hospital's good deeds.

It was presumably very busy, because Pistoia has a reputation as a particularly nasty, strife-torn city, which is quite a statement. This may stem from the fact that the city became rich through the manufacture of daggers and swords. Then, as technology improved, they gave the world the pistol, named of course after its hometown.

72. Pistoia

We had some extra time so we stopped off in Pistoia on our train back to Florence. Because it never really flourished, having been annexed to Florence since 1320, it felt properly sized for its current population, and therefore livelier. Its cathedral complex is on a very pretty square, but as you can see from the aerial photo, the cathedral seems to have been squeezed in as an afterthought. The main square looks onto the blank side of the church, while the facade of the church really faces nothing. The baptistry is tucked in a far corner. Adjoining the facade is the palace of Pistoia's dominant family, which is now an interesting Etruscan museum.