The San Zeno Cathedral existed back in 923 and was rebuilt and extended in the 12th Century and transformed over the centuries. Inside, ancient Romanesque structures blend with Baroque and Renaissance work and with the complete decorative after-thought of the apse part, which was finished in the mid-nineteenth century. The precious silver altar of the old chapel, which was dedicated to the Patron Saint Jacopo in 1145 and destroyed in 1786, still stands; this magnificent work by goldsmiths was completed over the centuries, in various phases, between 1287 and 1456, by goldsmiths from Pistoia and Florence, including the young Filippo Brunelleschi, who later designed the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, and who made several small, intense sculptures portraying the Prophets, pre-announcing the great expressive power, which was to characterise the most celebrated work of one of the greatest geniuses of the Renaissance period. Among the precious works kept in the Cathedral we must also include the Crucifixion painted by Coppo di Marcovaldo and his son Salerno di Coppo, and the monument to Cardinal Forteguerri, which was completed in the eighteenth century and designed and partially created by Andrea Verrocchio, Leonardo da Vinci’s master. Verrocchio and his studio also made Bishop Donato de’ Medici’s tombstone in the Pappagalli Chapel, to the left of the apse, where there is a sophisticated painting of the Madonna di Piazza that was completed around 1485 by Lorenzo di Credi, who, like Leonardo, was also one of Verrocchio’s apprentices.
The old belltower, in the middle of the square, rises over 66 metres and constitutes the heart around which all of the other monumental buildings are arranged. It is worth the effort of climbing the 200 steps just for the splendid view you can admire at the top. The bell-tower is aligned with the façade of the Cathedral.

Next to the Cathedral stands the old Bishops’ Palace, which was the bishop’s residence until 1786; today it is the site of the museum and representative office of the Cassa di Risparmio di Pistoia e Pescia.

The building of this church, on the site of an earlier (eighth century) church beyond the town walls, began in the mid 12th century but was completed only in the 14th century. Although the west front is in plain brick, the south side of the church is faced with bands of white and green marble. It has three orders, differing in height, of blind arcading; within the arches are rhombs filled with ornament. On the lintel of the doorway in the south front is a relief, the "Last Supper" by Gruamonte (c. 1160), and in the tympanum above this is a figure of John the Baptist (14th century Pisan school) flanked by two lions. The most notable feature in the interior of this aisleless church is the pulpit by Fra Guglielmo da Pisa (1270), which has reliefs of the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Adoration of the Kings, the Washing of the Feet, the Crucifixion, the Descent from the Cross, the Descent into Limbo, the Ascension, Pentecost and the Death of the Virgin. The holy water stoup has representations of the three Theological Virtues and the four Cardinal Virtues (the latter an early work by Giovanni Pisano). To the left of the high altar is a polyptych (1353-55) by Taddeo Gaddi, and on the left- hand side altar a terracotta of the Visitation from the workshop of the della Robbias.

The Church of the Madonna dell'Umiltà, begun in 1495, was built by Ventura Vitoni, in the manner of Brunelleschi, to house a miraculous image of the Virgin which had begun to perform wonders in 1490. It replaced the earlier Church of Santa Maria Forisportae. The ground-plan of the church is highly unusual. A domed central octagon lies beyond a wider vestibule, and to the rear is a rectangular chapel. The barrel vaulting and the vaulting of the central dome over the vestibule are coffered, and the four successive levels of the central octagon are foreshortened to give an effect of perspective. On the high altar is the miraculous image of the Virgin.

To the south of Cathedral square, where the religious buildings stand, the elegant Gothic Baptistery of San Giovanni in Corte makes a fine show with its precious bi-chrome marble covering. The Baptistery, which was built in the middle of the fourteenth century by Cellino di Nese, perhaps according to Nicola Pisano’s design, has an octagonal plan and a truncated pyramid roof, surmounted by a lantern decorated with spires and pinnacles. The entrance doorway is wonderfully decorated and surmounted by bas-reliefs and statues. Inside you can see a rare immersion christening font by Lanfranco da Como, dating back to 1226, from the old Baptist church of Santa Maria, which stood on the site of the Baptistery.

Palazzo Pretorio or Palazzo del Podestà, which was built after 1367, owes its present appearance to the expansion in 1845. The inner courtyard is particularly interesting with its frescoed vaults and walls decorated with the numerous coats of arms of podestà, custody captains, commissioners and governors, who performed their duties in the Palazzo from the Middle Ages until 1816, when the magistracy was abolished and the building became used as a Court building. To the left of the entrance the bench is preserved with three orders of steps, and the great stone table where justice was administered.

The town hall, also known as Palazzo degli Anziani, was built after the end of the thirteenth century and enlarged in the 14th Century. Its current appearance still preserves the severe forms in keeping with the place of power, where the Magistracy of the Elders assembled, the Gonfaloniers of Justice and then the Podestà. On the façade, besides the Medici family’s coat of arms surmounted by the insignia of Pope Leone X, there is also the black marble head of Musetto II, the king of Majorca, who was defeated in the Balearic war, between 1113 and 1115, by Grandonio de’ Ghisilieri, a captain from Pistoia, to whom the mace refers. Besides still being the city’s administrative centre, the Palazzo is home to the Civic Museum and the Giovanni Michelucci Documentation Centre.

A little way east of San Francesco is the Church of Sant'Andrea, the origins of which go back to the eighth century. Work continued in the 12th century, but the church remained unfinished. The facade has blind arcading of white and green marble. In the main doorway are two lions flanking a statue of St Andrew in the manner of Giovanni Pisano. On the architrave is a relief depicting the Three Kings before Herod and in Bethlehem by Gruamonte and Adeodato (1166). The capitals of the pillars framing the doorway have, on the left, representations of Zacharias and the Angel and the Visitation and, on the right, the Annunciation and St Anne. The nave is impressive: tall and narrow, with an open timber roof structure. The pulpit, one of Giovanni Pisano's finest works (1298-1301), is similar to the one in the Cathedral of Pisa. It rests on seven porphyry columns, two supported on lions, one on a bent human figure and the central one on a lion and an eagle. On the capitals, which are linked by arches with Gothic tracery, are figures of Sibyls and Prophets. The relief panels round the pulpit depict the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Kings, Joseph's Dream, the Slaughter of the Innocents, the Crucifixion and the Last Judgment. Between the panels are Old and New Testament figures. Giovanni Pisano was also responsible for the wooden Crucifix on the tabernacle in the third chapel on the left.

The Ospedale del Ceppo, to the north of the Palazzo del Comune in Pistoia, was founded in the 13th or 14th century; it takes its name from the offertory-box (ceppo) in which alms for the poor and sick were collected. At the beginning of the 16th century it became a dependency of the Ospedale di Santa Maria Nuova in Florence, and, following the Florentine pattern, a portico was built in front of the facade. The splendid polychrome majolica frieze was the work of artists from the studio of the della Robbias (in particular Santi Buglioni and Giovanni della Robbia). It depicts the Seven Works of Mercy alternating with the Cardinal and Theological Virtues (from left to right: Clothing the naked; a sphinx; Taking in the stranger; Prudence; Visiting the sick; Faith; Comforting the prisoner; Charity; Burying the dead; Hope; Feeding the hungry; Justice; Giving drink to the thirsty; a sphinx). In medallions below the frieze are scenes from the life of the Virgin.

Today the Palazzo del Comune houses the Municipal Museum with painted panels, frescoes and pictures from the 13th-18th centuries.
Piazza del Duomo 1