Description of the attraction
The Church of San Pietro is the oldest religious building in Grosseto. It is located on Corso Carducci, the main street of the historic city, near the junction that leads to the churches of Dei Bigi and San Francesco.
The Church of San Pietro was built in the early Middle Ages on the ancient Roman road Via Aurelia. This ancient road crossed the city center along the current street Corso Carducci, which connects Piazza Dante and the Porta Nuova gate. At that time, the church was located at the northern end of Grosseto, and opposite it, at the southern end, was the Church of San Giovanni. Interestingly, the distance between these two buildings on the north-south axis was identical to that on which the churches of San Michele and Santa Lucia stood on the west-east axis.
Over the past centuries, the Church of San Pietro has been reconstructed more than once, which significantly changed its original appearance. The current appearance of the church is, for the most part, the result of restorations carried out in the 17th and 18th centuries.
A notable element of the church is the Romanesque apse with a characteristic semicircular shape. The outer walls are made of stone, on which fragments of limestone tuff are clearly visible in places. The stone bell tower behind it was built in the 17th century on the site of a former tower. It is located to the right of the apse on a medieval foundation. There is a small dome at the top of the bell tower.
The side walls of San Pietro are closed by a number of residential buildings and buildings, which almost completely "swallowed" the ancient church. There is a portal on the facade, which is preceded by a staircase with two pilasters with capitals. Above the portal, the facade of the church is completely plastered, and in the center you can see a double-winged window. The upper part of the façade is crowned with a series of small false arches. On the sides of the pilasters that bound the portal of the church, there are four bas-reliefs, two on each side, which date from the period of the Byzantine Empire. One bas-relief depicts plants, the other depicts a human figure, and the remaining two depict animals.
Inside, the Church of San Pietro consists of a central nave with partly preserved original Romanesque elements.
