Basilica of San Piero a Grado

Ciborio, interno Basilica di San Piero a Grado (G. Bettini, Comune di Pisa)
Ciborio, interno Basilica di San Piero a Grado (G. Bettini, Comune di Pisa)
Curious fact: in the northern entrance of the Basilica there is a low relief that looks like a corncob, but how is it possible that this image is on the wall of a medieval basilica if corn spread to Europe after the conquest of the Americas? The mystery remains, but perhaps the figure only looks like a corncob and is actually the symbol of something different.

The stone of San Clemente: inside, under the late Gothic ciborium, stands the column of St. Peter, on which the Apostle placed a large stone to celebrate mass. Around it are the remains of the first early Christian church from the fifth century, with a single apse and of the three-apse church from the eighth century. According to tradition, San Clemente, in the act of consecrating the altar of Peter, had an episode of epistaxis and a few drops of his blood fell on the stone slab. Today, that stone fragment is in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Pisa.

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