Cattedrale di San Martino

The facade of Lucca's Duomo is an excellent and eye-catching example of the Pisan-Lucchese Romanesque school of architecture. Long lines of baby columns -- every variety imaginable -- backed by discreet green-and-white Romanesque banding are stacked into three tiers of arcaded loggias. Signed in 1204 by Guidetto da Como, the facade is technically unfinished, lacking the topmost loggia and a tympanum. The carved great arches making up the portico underneath include a dwarfish third partner, probably made smaller to accommodate the preexisting (1060) base of the bell tower, the crenellated marble top half of which was finished in 1261. The pillar abutting the tower is carved with a circular 12th-century labyrinth, a symbol of the long, torturous road to salvation. Such mazes once pointedly graced the entrance to many medieval churches.

The 13th-century reliefs under the portico are beautiful examples of medieval stonework, a few of them carved by Guido da Como. Around the central door are the months of the year and stories from the life of St. Martin. Martin of Tours was a 4th-century Hungarian soldier in the Roman army who famously divided his cloak to share with a beggar and, after converting, preached against capital punishment (panel 1), cured lepers with kisses (panel 2, though here he's not puckering), raised a few dead (panel 3), and was made bishop (panel 4) before becoming the first saint to die of natural causes instead of martyrdom. Bedecking the left portal are an Adoration of the Magi and Deposition that may be early Nicola Pisano works. Few visitors know to wander around the back of the church to admire the arcaded exterior of the apse, which sits in a small grassy park.

In the 14th- to 15th-century interior, talented local sculptor Matteo Civitali designed the pavement as well as the holy-water stoups and the pulpit along the aisles. Against the entrance wall is the original 13th-century statue of St. Martin dividing his cloak to give to a beggar (outside is a replica). Among the fine baroque works in the right aisle is (third altar) a Last Supper (1590-91) by Tintoretto and his assistants.

On the right aisle just past a few steps is the entrance to the former sacristy (for admission, see below), containing an altarpiece of the Madonna Enthroned with Saints by Domenico Ghirlandaio over a predella by his pupil Bartolomeo di Giovanni and surmounted by a lunette of the Deposition by a follower of Filippo Lippi. The sacristy is also home to the Duomo's masterpiece, Jacopo della Quercia's tomb of Ilaria Carretto Guinigi (long-term plans are to move it to the Museo della Cattedrale). Married in 1403 to Paolo Guinigi and dead 2 years later at age 26, Ilaria del Carretto had only been in the limelight for a brief moment. But her rich husband also happened to be the town boss, so she was guaranteed everlasting fame as the subject of Jacopo della Quercia's masterpiece marble tomb. Jacopo barely had time to finish it in 1407 before Guinigi married again. Della Quercia's International Gothic style is influenced here by French models -- the lying-in-state look with folded hands and with a little pug dog at her feet to symbolize fidelity. But he also started to introduce Renaissance elements that look back to antiquity, such as the sarcophagal friezes of putti and garlands around the sides; the natural and accurate representation of Ilaria's face; and the flowing, limpid lines full of grace and repose. The tomb is famous -- if for nothing else -- because the young lady was quite obviously very beautiful, and Jacopo's chisel has kept her beauty alive. Incidentally, Ilaria is actually buried, and always has been, in the Guinigi chapel of Santa Lucia in San Francesco; Paolo Guinigi had the tomb placed in the cathedral just to show off what he could buy.

In the right transept are more Matteo Civitali works, including the 1472 tomb of Pietro Noceto and the tomb of Domenico Bertini. In the far right transept chapel, Civitali did the two praying angels flanking the tabernacle, and the chapel next to the choir has his Altar of St. Regolo (1484). The first chapel in the left transept houses Giambologna's Mannerist altar that includes the Risen Christ, Sts. Peter and Paul, and a very low bas-relief of Lucca's skyline as it appeared in 1577, complete with towers and the newly finished city walls. The baroque canvases decorating the left aisle are fine, the only outstanding one being Bronzino's 1598 Presentation of Mary at the Temple, full of gorgeously rich fabrics appropriate to this textile town; it's on the second altar from the door.

Halfway down this aisle is Civitali's octagonal Tempietto (1482), built of white Carrara and red porphyry marble, with a St. Sebastian on the backside. It houses Lucca's most holy relic, the Volto Santo. This thick-featured, bug-eyed, time-blackened wooden statue of Jesus crucified was rumored to have been started by Nicodemus -- who would've known what he was carving since he was the one who actually took Jesus off the Cross -- but was miraculously completed. Hidden during the persecutions and eventually stuck on a tiny boat by itself and set adrift, it found its way to the Italian port of Luni in 782, where the local bishop was told in a dream to place it in a cart drawn by two wild oxen, and wherever they went, there the Holy Image would stay. The ornery beasts, submitting meekly to the yoke, wandered over to Lucca and hit the brakes, and the miraculous image has been planted here ever since.

The city was famous for its Holy Visage throughout the Middle Ages -- not many cathedrals could claim a bona fide portrait of Christ. Lucca's mints turned out coinage stamped with its image; the medieval French invented a St. Vaudeluc out of corruption of its Latin name (sanctum vultum de Lucca); and King William Rufus of England even swore oaths by it. In truth, however, the simple sculpture was probably carved in a 13th-century Lombard workshop to replace a lost 11th-century version that may have been copied from a Syrian statue of the 700s. Every September 13 and 14 (and again May 3) the Luccans dress their Christ up in kingly jewel-encrusted medieval vestments (kept in the Museo della Cattedrale) and hold a solemn procession in its honor.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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