Frommer's Review
A local bank now owns the old Bishop's Palace wedged between the Duomo and the Baptistery, but they keep their archaeological and Duomo-related collections open to the public via a guided tour. The highlights of the excavation are bits of a Roman house and an Etruscan furnace. There are also a pair of Etruscan tomb markers and a precious alabaster funerary urn carved with a chariot scene in high relief. The placard declares it Roman of the 2nd century A.D., but a team of American art historians has declared it was more likely of Etruscan origin. There's a gold reliquary case (1407) by Lorenzo Ghiberti and his workshop in the room that was once used as the Duomo's sacristy and treasury. In the 13th century, Vanni Pucci -- one of those bad seeds who helped cement Pistoia's evil reputation -- broke into this room looking for politically damaging documents. While inside, Pucci also helped himself to some of the church's riches, a despicable act that caused Dante to stick Pucci, surrounded by snakes and cursing God, in a fairly low circle of Hell. The tour also takes you past the bishop's private chapel, devoted to San Niccolò, with badly damaged 14th-century fresco fragments, and a room specially built to receive the detached dry tempera frescoes from a nearby villa, painted in 1868 by Macchiaioli artist Giovanni Boldini.
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.
