Cathedral of Massa Marittima

The Cathedral of Massa Marittima it is dedicated to San Cerbone, a saint who, according to tradition, fled from the African coasts around 570 following the invasions of the Vandals and landed in Populonia where he founded a new diocese, whose headquarters was then definitively moved to Massa in 1016 Maritime.

The Romanesque nucleus of the current building was built on the remains of an older church mentioned in a document from 1099, based on drawings by an architect trained in Pisa; In fact, the first mention of the main church of Massa dates back to 1101. In 1287 work was begun to expand the apse once again by a Pisan architect, according to some scholars the famous artist Giovanni Pisano, but with the probable intervention of Sienese workers. The two side chapels were added in the first half of the 1300s. The cross vaults of the central nave, which replaced the original exposed trusses, date back to the second half of the 15th century; the side ones were instead built between 1622 and 1626, a period in which many of the existing frescoes were also destroyed and the high altar was built by the Sienese architect Flaminio di Girolamo dal Turco.
In the 1920s the bell tower was significantly remodeled and partially rebuilt.
The roof suffered serious damage during the Second World War and was rebuilt after the war.
In 1976 Pope Paul VI elevated the church to the rank of minor basilica, the only one in the province of Grosseto with the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Grosseto to have this title.
An accurate restoration work of the whole building with its decorations was carried out between 1990 and 2000. MUST SEE. San Cerbone is one of the most important monuments not only of the Maremma, but of all of Tuscany, and is very rich in works of high artistic level. The decorative apparatus on the façade is interesting: the relief of the architrave of the portal, with five episodes from the life of San Cerbone, the half-lions above the capitals and the symbols of the evangelists on which the slender columns of the upper order rest; in the tympanum at the top the central column rests on a kneeling man and the two nearby on a horse and a griffin, the work of an artist from the school of Giovanni Pisano.
Inside, in the counter-façade of the right nave, a Roman sarcophagus from the 3rd century AD has been walled up since 1880, above which in a niche there is a frescoed triptych with the Madonna and Child between Saints Francis and Catherine of Alexandria. On the entire wall there are fragments of reliefs of uncertain dating (10th-12th century), characterized by a vivid realism, and fragments of frescoes. In the space of the rose window stands out a valuable stained glass window, although extensively restored, depicting San Cerbone in front of Pope Vigilius, dating back to the 14th century and the work of Girolamo da Pietrasanta.
At the beginning of the right nave, the baptismal font is very noteworthy, the basin of which is made from a single block of travertine, decorated with scenes from the life of the Baptist, the work of the sculptor Giroldo da Como (1267); later the central tabernacle decorated with statues of patriarchs and prophets, surmounted by the figure of the Baptist, dated 1447.
In the Chapel of the Crucifix, located in the transept, Crucifix on a panel by Segna di Bonaventura (end of the 13th century).
Behind the altar, once in the crypt, today stands the beautiful Ark of San Cerbone, a masterpiece of Sienese art signed by Goro di Gregorio and dated 1324, completely covered by high reliefs with traces of polychromy illustrating the legend of San Cerbone in the chest and the Virgin, saints and prophets in the gabled lid.
In the chapel of the Madonna, in the left transept, Maestà or Madonna delle Grazie, attributed to Duccio di Buoninsegna, probably datable to 1316.

HOW TO REACH IT :

The Cathedral of San Cerbone is located in Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi.

IN THE SAME AREA YOU CAN ALSO VISIT:

Archaeological Museum; Mining Museum; Museum of Art and History of Mines; Museum of the Organs of Santa Cecilia; Monumental complex of San
Pietro all’Orto; Ancient Carpentry, Fonti dell’Abbondanza; Torre del Candeliere and Cassero Senese; Archaeological Park of Lake Accesa.

IF YOU LIKED THE CATHEDRAL OF SAN CERBONE YOU CAN ALSO VISIT:

Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Grosseto (km 53).