The pieve of San Martino is the main church of Sesto Fiorentino. It is recorded from the year 868 and was rebuilt in the early thirteenth century: it still keeps its Romanesque structure, and is striking for its upward thrust and monumental size. Over the centuries it has been altered several times, especially in the bell tower and the semicircular apse, and on the façade it has a sixteenth-century portico with a straight entablature.
What to see
The interior is divided into three naves by piers and runs to eight bays; the side altars are seventeenth-century. On the high altar is a Crucifix by Agnolo Gaddi; among the other works are a Circumcision by Jacopo Vignali, the Death of the Virgin by Cenni di Francesco di ser Cenni, Four Saints by Santi di Tito and a series of reproductions of Della Robbia originals made in the nineteenth century by the Ginori manufactory, which is based in Sesto itself.
On the left wall hangs an altarpiece of the Annunciation dated 1576, painted by Stefano Pieri for the Cocchi Donati family and originally in Santa Maria a Morello: it keeps its original frame, with a painted predella showing the family's arms and a portrait of the patron.
Visiting
The pieve is in the centre of Sesto Fiorentino. Opening and service times should be checked with the parish.
Our editors' tip
On the outer south side look for Roberto Ceccherini's ceramic relief of Saint Martin sharing his cloak with the beggar.
