The parish of Saints John the Baptist and Peter the Apostle in Calcinaia, already documented in the year 883, was the baptismal church for the villages in the area, including Pontedera and Bientina. There is no visible trace left of the ancient church that stood southwest of the current Piazza Indipendenza, as in the mid-16th century, a significant part of the structure was swallowed by the waters diverted by the new course of the Arno River.
The interior
On the altar of the right nave, the revered image of the Madonna del Rifugio is preserved, along with a seventeenth-century altarpiece depicting Saint Francis of Assisi, attributed to the school of Domenico Cigoli.
Who was Saint Ubaldesca Taccini?
(Born in Calcinaia in 1136 – Died in Pisa on May 28, 1206) Born to humble parents in Calcinaia, Ubaldesca, from a young age, was diligent in the practice of prayer, often accompanied by fasting and charity towards the poor. She joined the Jerusalemite Order of Saint John (established a few years earlier in 1099 in Jerusalem) and at the age of 15, she left Calcinaia for Pisa, stopping at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (built in the 12th century by the architect Diotisalvi).
Throughout her life, Ubaldesca practiced humility and charity in the monastery and the “Spedale,” mortifying her body with intense and prolonged fasting. The Pisan saint worked miracles during her lifetime, and after her death on May 28, 1206, the feast of the Holy Trinity, healings associated with her name multiplied.
Comune di Calcinaia
0587.265411
www.comune.calcinaia.pi.it
Da sapere:
La chiesa subì gravissimi danni nell’agosto del 1944 quando le truppe naziste in ritirata assassinarono il pievano don Angelo Orsini e abbatterono il campanile che rovinò su metà dell’edificio.