Originating from an idea of ​​Rome’s European Centre for Tourism, Culture and Entertainment and organised by the institution, l’Opera della Primaziale Pisana in collaboration with the organisation, the Fabric of Saint Peter in Rome, the exhibition entitled: “IN PETER’S FOOTSTEPS. PISA CATHEDRAL AND THE VATICAN BASILICA” will open in the Palazzo dell’Opera and the adjoining Salone degli Affreschi of Pisa’s Camposanto Monumentale on 22 April and will remain open until 23 July 2017.

The main theme running through the initiative is a comparison between the Vatican Basilica and Pisa Cathedral, as concrete manifestations of the universal Church, on the one hand, and the local Church on the other.

The well-known chronological difference between the two current buildings, medieval in Pisa and modern in Rome, was a major challenge for the organisers, resolved with an option which covers a long period. The objects gathered to tell this complex story come from the time of Saint Peter’s in the nineteenth century, but they are inserted into specific thematic grids, providing the exhibition with a coherent path through nearly two millennia of religious and artistic history.

In fact, as far back as the Middle Ages, the important artistic treasures of Pisa and its region reveal its strong link with Rome. The figure of Saint Peter and his cult played a fundamental role in this relationship which spread through all Pisa’s lands.

In 320 AD, the first Vatican basilica was built over his tomb by the first Christian emperor, Constantine the Great. This building, destroyed during the sixteenth century to make way for the present basilica, was a magnificent temple with five naves and a large four-sided portico in front, a beacon of medieval architecture. Pisa did not escape its influence: its Cathedral in the Piazza dei Miracoli harks back to Constantine’s Basilica.

Against this background, the exhibition aims to illustrate the strong connection established between Pisa and Rome through the figure of Peter, and the Vatican Basilica’s decisive influence over Pisa Cathedral down the centuries.

The exhibition, curated by Marco Collareta, drew on the support of a prestigious scientific committee, composed of His Excellency Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the President of the Opera della Primaziale Pisana, Pierfrancesco Pacini, Maria Grazia Bernardini, Antonino Caleca, Stefano Casciu, Marco Collareta, Andrea Muzzi, Antonio Pinelli and Pietro Zander.