PISA. Up there you can see moving lights. There are no people to be seen. But they are there, beyond the wooden chest of drawers. That is, the precious ceiling of the church of Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri. Technicians and restorers must understand, moving on wooden boards which are accessed from a majestic scaffolding, how that coffered panel where the military exploits of the Knights of the Order of Saint Stephen are depicted is.
In particular, to what extent did the water infiltrations that undermined the safety of the monument, so much so as to determine its prolonged closure, put the structure at risk. A crucial step in defining the restoration project, which includes the necessary costs and time needed to reopen the church to faithful and tourists.
Goals
The point was made by superintendent Valerio Tesi on the occasion of the signing of an agreement between the Superintendence of Pisa and Livorno and the Scuola Normale Superiore for the valorization of the church of Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri. This is a two-year agreement, with the possibility of renewal, signed by the architect Tesi and the director of the Normale, Luigi Ambrosio, also present with the deputy director of the School, Professor Alessandro Schiesaro.
The recovery operation can count on ministerial funding of 3.5 million euros dating back to 2018. «A long time has passed, too much, before we reached this point, reached only thanks to the commitment of the Superintendency», underlines Tesi . The tests on the ceiling are carried out by operators from the Cellini Srl company of Impruneta. The superintendent also gave an indication of the timing: «By the summer, based on the results of the ongoing investigation, we will have the executive project for seismic risk verification, vulnerability reduction and restoration. Then we will move on to the tender for the assignment of the works.”
Problems
Built to a design by Giorgio Vasari starting from 1565 as a place of worship assigned to the Knights of the Order of Saint Stephen, the church was closed by the State Property Office for security reasons from June 2023 and assigned to the Superintendency which, thanks to that funding dedicated to the Ministry of Culture, is conducting the verification and restoration work entrusted to the supervision of the architect Maria Irene Lattarulo. It was last June 15th when the Regional Directorate of State Property communicated via Pec the closure of the church for safety reasons. A decision taken one day after the appeal made by Archbishop Giovanni Paolo Benotto to the owner body to work towards the implementation of the interventions necessary to safeguard the structure.
In the past the church had already remained inaccessible for over seven months. Then it was reopened in May 2016 after interventions on the roof and apse carried out thanks to a loan of 300 thousand euros from the Pisa Foundation. «It is necessary to verify the relationships between the roof and the rest of the structure, to understand the state of the places in order to arrive at the restoration project. Actually knowing the architectural structure of the coffered ceiling is a necessary condition for defining the interventions to be implemented”, say the technicians. The area above the altar, where the maxi scaffolding is now located, is the first to be investigated. The construction site will then move to the part closest to the entrance on Piazza dei Cavalieri.
The agreement
As part of the planning and execution of these activities for the conservation of Santo Stefano and also at their conclusion, according to the new agreement, the Normale and Superintendency undertake to share actions for the promotion of the rich historical/artistic heritage of the church, with particular attention to its architectural history and its protection.
They will do so through scientific and historical-artistic research to study the monumental building and the assets preserved there, including paintings by artists such as Cigoli, Ligozzi, Allori depicting the military exploits of the Order, as well as paintings by Bronzino (Nativity, 1564 ) and of Vasari himself (Martyrdom of Saint Stephen, 1571), banners and the rich gilded wooden coffered ceiling which requires conservative interventions for stability. Furthermore, cultural events such as exhibitions, seminars, workshops that promote the value of the church of Santo Stefano and the context to which the monument belongs. In this regard, an international conference is being organized for 13 and 14 December 2024.
The project
The agreement is part of a path that the Normale is pursuing in recent years of relaunching the buildings in Piazza dei Cavalieri, which houses the main headquarters of the School, the Palazzo della Carovana, with many initiatives such as the renovation of the buildings that house the Library (of the Clock, of the Rectory) and, during the current direction, the “Project for the cultural valorization of the historical and artistic heritage of Piazza dei Cavalieri, in collaboration with the Pisa Foundation under the scientific responsibility of Professor Lucia Simonato (https:/ /piazzadeicavalieri.sns.it/).
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