San Lorenzo alle Corti, along the SS67 Tosco-Romagnola between Pisa and Cascina, has early-medieval origins, the name in fact referring to the ‘corti’ (estates) that the Della Gherardesca counts (those of Count Ugolino) owned here from the 9th century.
The church of San Lorenzo bears on its Romanesque-style façade two reproductions of an old epigraph with the year 1046 Pisano (1045) from the pre-existing religious building. It suffered severe damage in the floods of 1333 when the Arno overflowed. The gift of the relic of a tooth of the martyr San Lorenzo is recorded in an epigraph now walled in the interior of the pieve, in the wall under the choir loft.
Near the entrance is an octagonal immersion baptismal font made of Verrucana stone (11th-12th century). The structure, made of pietra serena stone and masonry painted in imitation marble, is characterised by two half-columns and a broken tympanum, with the monogram of Christ in the centre.
On the left side, detached from the body of the church, and in correspondence with the apse, rises the 19th-century bell tower: a square-based tower with a high belfry equipped with four single-lancet windows to house as many bells.
Nearby are two interesting villas, which are privately owned and therefore cannot be visited. The first is Villa Ruschi, dating back to the 17th century, characterised inside by a large, luxurious stone and marble staircase. The other is Villa Barasaglia, later Gambini, a luxurious residence hidden among modern buildings, built in 1818 on the occasion of Teresa Barasaglia’s wedding to the nobleman Gherardo Gherardi Del Testa.
Info: Parish of San Lorenzo alle Corti
Tel. 050 775051
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