The Church
The convent of Nicosia is accessible via a road going halfway up the mountainside, through olive groves. Sunk in the greenery, the complex is the result of subsequent enlargements and renovations that have turned it into an imposing building, surrounded by extensive curtain walls marking the boundaries of a property by now alienated.
A great portal leads to the convent courtyard, which the nursery, the church and the main entrance to the convent facilities overlook; today, they are in a degradation state. Through the iron gate, a magnificent cloister can be seen, with a patch farmed as an orchard and adorned by camellias.
Today, the church appears transformed according to a 18th-century style, yet its façade has kept the construction modes of Pisan stonemasons of the Middle Ages.
Description »
The convent church of Nicosia has conserved few, yet interesting traces of the original medieval facility: in particular, the lower part of the façade, built in well-squared, chiselled ashlars of Caprona rubble, suggests a comparison with the technique employed in the construction of San Francesco church in Pisa.
The external elevations of the building are inbuilt in the convent facilities, hence they are hardly readable. The interiors underwent major 18th- and 19th-century changes, therefore today’s visitors enter a single-hall church, covered with a barrel vault with lunettes and marked by a hemispherical dome resting on pendentives.
A very evocative cloister is hosted inside the convent, farmed as an orchard, where historic camellias still grow.
History »
The convent construction started in 1263, when Ugo da Fagiano chose a ‘wild’ place on the foothills of Monte Verruca to be assigned to Augustinian friars. He gave it a name derived from the Cyprus location where he had been a bishop, i.e. Nicosia.
In 1267, the first eleven friars entered the convent.
In time, the convent facilities were enlarged and improved, to suit the friars’ needs and the modern taste. The medieval church was transformed, too, according to a 18th-century style. It has been recently renovated.
Starting from the late 18th century, suppressions by Leopold and, later, Napoleon completely emptied the facilities of their mobile heritage.
Following the re-establishment of the convent in 1815, the reformed Franciscan friars settled in it, until the 1970s, when the monastery was definitively abandoned.
Restorations »
The building was restored and enlarged on several occasions.
In 1889, a chapel was built on the right side of the church, dedicated to the Virgin of Lourdes. Works were financially supported by the friar Agostino da Montefeltro.
In 1917, the roofs of the parsonage and of the church were restored.
The convent facilities, definitively abandoned in the 1970’s, are today in a state of advanced degradation.
Bibliography »
G. Fascetti, Il Monte Pisano. Storia del territorio, Pisa, ETS, 1997.
M. L. Ceccarelli Lemut, Stefano Renzoni, Stefano Sodi, Chiese di Pisa 2. Guida alla conoscenza del patrimonio artistico, Pisa, ETS, 2001.
Location
