Pisa, restoration of the medieval chapel of St. Agatha completed

In Pisa , the restoration of the Chapel of St. Agatha, located in the apse area of the church of San Paolo a Ripa d’Arno, has been completed. Municipally owned, it had been in a serious state of disrepair for years. The amount of the work amounts to 348 thousand euros, 75 percent of which is thanks to co-financing from the Pisa Foundation and the remainder with municipal own resources. Architect Roberto Pasqualetti was responsible for the design and direction of the work. The chapel will open to citizens on Feb. 5, dedicated to the worship of St. Agatha.

The monument is located in a small garden of quadrangular shape, bordered on the west by the apse of the church of San Paolo a Ripa d’Arno, on the south and east by two residential complexes, and on the south by San Paolo Street. A space, the one surrounding the chapel, that appears greatly changed by the destruction and subsequent reconstruction due to the bombing of World War II. Historical maps show how the chapel was bordered by the cloister of the Vallombrosian monastery on all sides of the present garden. The war events of 1943 irreparably compromised most of the buildings on the perimeter, including the bell tower of San Paolo a Ripa d’Arno. Following the reconstruction project by the then Superintendent, engineer Piero Sanpaolesi (c. 1955), all the now dilapidated buildings were demolished. The date of construction and the author of the chapel are not certain. There is, in fact, no inscription revealing the year of construction. However, local tradition has it that the church was built in the second half of the 11th century by the canons of St. Paul’s on their return from the taking of Palermo (1063) from which the cult of St. Agatha was imported.

The chapel restoration project was preceded by a thorough cognitive survey by the research group of the Department of Architecture of the University of Florence. In addition to consolidation and conservation works, the restoration extended to a thorough redevelopment of the area aimed at enhancing this part of the city. The previous gray clinker tile pavement of little value that encircled the chapel was replaced with a thin layer of drainage pavement composed of a light-colored inert material, with the dual purpose of replacing a pavement that was now worn out and had several gaps, and as a necessary work to help preserve the masonry at the foot of the chapel, which was subject to dampness due to capillary rise from the ground. The renovation work then included punctual plaster repair and painting of the south wall surface and a general overhaul of the exterior lighting system.

On the particularly valuable surfaces, specifically on the stone material columns of the three-mullioned windows, on the small column placed on the top of the cusp and on the brick surfaces where, from the analysis of the archival documents of the Superintendence, fresco decorations are supposed to be present, a more intense cleaning work through solvent-based compresses was necessary. This delicate and careful phase of intervention made it possible to identify the real consistency of the decorative apparatus of the entire chapel, which was unfortunately reduced to small fragments of fresco concentrated on the surfaces of the arches of the three-mullioned windows, in the blind arches and in the ferrules of the arches that underlie the infills of the perimeter walls. Among the decorations found, noteworthy are those found on the surfaces underlying the blind arches in the northern portion of the artifact: small fragments of fresco of fine workmanship depicting faces in an ochre background. Decorations that, in addition to the value of documentary evidence, represent an actual value of fine artistic workmanship, since, made on a thin layer of lime applied directly on the brick on external surfaces.

The work then involved the consolidation of the masonry: the reconstruction made it possible to eliminate many causes that, in the past, led to the various degradations and alterations of the structure. Restoration of the fixtures was also carried out.

As for theinterior, the interior surfaces of the chapel are in a very poor state of preservation. Water infiltration and the consequent proliferation of biological patina has made it difficult today to appreciate the rich decorative apparatus. The brick surface is characterized for much of it, by a fine surface finish, with a complex stratigraphy in the pyramidal part, which appears to have been frescoed. On the entire surface is applied a very thin preparatory layer based on lime and organic binder, on which is applied the decoration, the true consistency of which is difficult to define today. The current poor state of preservation of the surface can be attributed to the latest restoration work carried out between the post-war reconstruction and the early 1970s of last century. Historical photographs found show that prior to the 1950’ restorations, the inner and outer surface of the roof was plastered. With the intention of restoring its original image, it was decided at this time to remove the plaster in favor of an exposed brick surface. Interior organization. Finally, the project included a significant reconfiguration of the internal spatial organization. The altar, a stone slab resting on its back on two iron pillars made during the 1964-71 restorations, was positioned distant from the side opposite the entrance, and was repositioned in adherence to the wall itself according to its original location. The marble tombstone, hanging to the left of the altar was recessed on the edge of the pavement and in the center of it, the fragments of arches made of stone material were detached from the wall to be relocated on a special freestanding structure within the chapel space.

The statements

“The medieval chapel of Sant’Agata is immersed in a historical context rich in monumental emergencies of great importance,” explains Pisa Mayor Michele Conti. “Also in its immediate vicinity is the church of Sant’Antonio in Qualquonia, in a state of total abandonment, for which the Municipality of Pisa recently obtained 900 thousand euros in funding from PNRR funds for urban regeneration. These two operations testify to our administration’s great attention to the preservation and enhancement of the city’s historical and artistic heritage. For the recovery of the Sant’Agata Chapel I would like to thank the Pisa Foundation, without whose fundamental contribution it would not have been possible to be here today. Now we must work to enhance this new space, including it in the tourist itineraries of our city and perhaps, also through collaboration with local associations, making it alive and frequented with cultural initiatives for citizens and guests.”

“The Pisa Foundation,” says the president of the Pisa Foundation, Stefano Del Corso, “promptly accepted in 2020 the request for support, which came from the city administration, for the recovery of the Chapel of St. Agatha, finding that the intervention project presented was immediately enforceable, which included the complete restoration of the masonry parts of the roof and external walls, as well as the fixtures and the interior floor. This complex and necessary intervention is in addition to those for the church of San Paolo a Ripa d’Arno to which the Pisa Foundation has long been committed and which together contribute to the recovery of one of the most beautiful areas in Pisa. The intervention on the Chapel of St. Agatha, an asset of great historical importance, probably built around 1063, is precisely to be included in the context of the broader redevelopment of the surrounding area, co-financed by the Foundation, which has already been carried out with the structural and architectural restoration of the Church of San Paolo a Ripa d’Arno and the partial redevelopment of the square in front of the Church. We would also like to emphasize the importance of the intervention on the green area outside the Sant’Agata Chapel, which will be equipped with suitable lighting for holding events of a cultural or recreational nature. With the provision of fencing the area with a gate. An indispensable way to preserve the property once it is returned to its splendor. Today we participate with pleasure in this moment of public presentation of the completed works, with a view to returning to the citizenship a recovered and livable area.”

“It was an important restoration,” explains the councilor for public works of the municipality of Pisa Raffaele Latrofa, “with interesting technical devices, all agreed upon with the Superintendence, which went to intervene in a minimally invasive but effective manner on the structure and with others on theexterior, with a sign that refers of the ancient sediment, marked by grass and gravel, and with an elegant gate that delimits the space and prevents access to the ill-intentioned, although we intend to make this place usable to the citizenship. Finally, the new lighting is very impressive to enhance this historic asset so close to the church of San Paolo in Ripa d’Arno and the Quarquonia.”

Pisa, restoration of the medieval chapel of St. Agatha completed

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