Complesso San Michele degli Scalzi (L. Corevi, Comune di Pisa)
Le Piagge and San Michele degli Scalzi
Abside e campanile - Chiesa S. Michele degli Scalzi Abside e campanile - Chiesa S. Michele degli Scalzi (L. Corevi, Comune di Pisa)In the middle of the avenue is the church of San Michele degli Scalzi in Orticaia, mentioned in 1025, with the evident leaning bell tower. The toponym 'orticaia' can refer to the conditions of the ancient district, swampy and rich in nettles, but also to the vast concentration of gardens, horticarum, which once supplied the city. The church was restored and annexed to the convent of the Pulzanesi (Scalzi) Benedictine monks in 1178 and shows a façade marked by five blind arches with lozenges and recesses, typical of the Pisan Romanesque style. The lunette above the main portal of the Blessing Christ is a work dated 1204 that is affected by the Byzantine influence in the art schools of Pisa (the original is in the national museum of San Matteo). The bell tower,strongly inclineddue to a subsidence of the ground, shows a clear reference to Lombard architecture in its increasing levels of multi-mullioned windows. Some copies of the ceramic basins of Islamic make that decorated the outside are still visible. The interior has three naves with Romanesque columns and capitals from the eleventh century as well as reclaimed and preserves a painted crossby the Pisan school from the 13th century.
