Sarzana

Sarzana (Italian pronunciation: [sarˈdzaːna]) is a town and comune in the Province of La Spezia, of Liguria. In 2010 it had a population of 21,978.

Main sights

• ⊙The noteworthy cathedral of white marble in the Gothic style, dating from 1355, was completed in 1474. It contains two elaborately-sculptured altars of the latter period.
• ⊙The former citadel, built by the Pisans, was demolished and re-erected by Lorenzo de' Medici.
• ⊙The Castle on the hill of Sarzanello was built or enlarged by the condottiero Castruccio Castracani. It is located on the site of a fortress existing here from as early as the reign of emperor Otto I, and was later a residence of the bishops of Luni.
• ⊙Pieve of Sant'Andrea, dating to the 10th-11th centuries. It was later remade, the last time in 1579, and has not a 16th-century portal. In the interior has marble 14th-15th centuries marble sculptures, a Vocation of Saints by Domenico Fiasella and a dodecagonal baptismal font.
• ⊙Church of San Francesco, documented from 1238 and, according to the tradition, founded by St. Francis of Assisi himself. In the interior, on the Latin cross plan, is the funerary monument of Castruccio Castracani's son, by Giovanni di Balduccio (1328) and the tomb of bishop Bernabò Malaspina, as well as a frescoed lunette attributed to Priamo della Quercia.