Overview
The patron saint of Pistoia is St Jacob, yet the city cathedral is dedicated to St Zeno, bishop of Verona in the third century. The apparent inconsistency seems to be due to a miracle that Bishop Zeno had granted here in the city.
Be that as it may, both Jacob and Zeno are present in the Cathedral with their relics: Zeno is in the last chapel on the right, and Jacob is in the spectacular Chapel of the Crucifix with a Shrine of the early 15th century (from Lorenzo Ghiberti's workshop) and an Altar of Tuscan goldsmith's art made by several hands between the late 13th and mid-15th century. However, the church has many other treasures: the architectural complex itself, the Andrea della Robbia lunette at the entrance, the funeral monument of the poet and man of letters Cino da Pistoia in the first chapel on the right, the frescoed presbytery where a fine 15th-century bronze candelabrum is preserved, a large Madonna by Verrocchio in the left aisle, but that's not all.
In front of the church, the fourteenth-century Baptistery of St John in Court deserves attention. Built in the Pisan Gothic style with the typical white and dark green stripes, it has an octagonal floor plan and an even older baptismal font sculpted in the 13th century by a stonemason from Como. The name of the building derives from the Lombard-era church that preceded it on the same site: Santa Maria in Corte. In the Baptistery, you can buy tickets to enter the Cathedral and climb to the top of its Bell Tower with a guide.
