Particolari Chiesa di Sant'Andrea in Foriporta (G. Bettini, Comune di Pisa)
Church of Sant'Andrea in Forisportam
Chiesa di Sant'Andrea in Foriporta (L. Corevi, Comune di Pisa)The small church of Sant'Andrea Forisportam (outside the disappeared Samuel gate, from the Lombard period, near the current Church of San Michele in Borgo) was built in the 11th century, but is mentioned for the first time in 1104. The temple hosted the celebration of Galileo Galilei's baptism on February 19, 1564, as the baptismal certificate reports: Galileo of Vincentio Ghalilei, florentine, and his wife Giulia was baptised on 19 [...] in the Chapel of Sant’Andrea. Today it is home to the Sant'Andrea theatre, a theatre experimentation and promotion centre established in 1986 at the behest of Pisan director Salvatore Giuseppe Ciulla. The exterior is in Verrucana stone and sandstone and follows the Pisan-style decorative scheme, with blind arches, five on the façade, lozenges and medieval ceramic basins (the originals are kept in the National Museum of San Matteo). Both the upper part and the bell tower, in brick, are the result of a subsequent intervention with respect to the rest of the structure, probably built between the 12th and 13th centuries. The interior of the building has three naves, with 6 columns featuring 4 Roman bare capitals and two capitals attributed to the work of Biduino, or Guglielmo, already active in the Cathedral. The church has undergone notable alterations during the restorations carried out in the nineteenth century, in particular the four marble confessionals of neo-Gothic style.
