Oratory of Saints Peter and Paul (said) Madonna di piè di piazza

The Oratory was founded around 1447 by the will of Francesco Galeotti. Renaissance- style architecture is perhaps one of the most important testimonies of the Brunelleschi's influence in Valdinievole. The design of the facades is in fact attributed to Andrea di Lazzaro Cavalcanti da Buggiano, a pupil and adoptive son of Filippo Brunelleschi. The oratory knew its moment of greatest notoriety in the early seventeenth century when in 1605, in the presence of the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany, the image of the Virgin and Child - which was found in the newsstand of the bridge of Santa Maria (today of the Duomo) - it was moved into the Oratory. The sacred image much revered by Pescia dates back to the fifteenth century and is painted on blackboard. The high altar was designed by the Grand Ducal architect Domenico Marcacci and the extraordinary polychrome wooden ceiling was designed by the same architect and realized by Giovanni Zeti 'Giovannone dei crucifissi'. In the center is placed the Virgin and on its sides are the statues of St. Peter and St Paul. The two sculptures were painted by Ippolito Brunetti. The altarpiece (1605) framing the sacred icon is by Alessandro Tiarini of Bologna. The iconographic theme is the one with God the Father in glory with Angels; below you can see a unique vision of Pescia with the ancient bridge of the Duomo and on the right the tower of the palace of the Vicar, while on the opposite side there is the provost bell tower. Next to the altar there is a precious marble slab coming from the holy door of the Vatican Basilica (Holy Year 1650), donated by Innocent X to the fish priest Domenico Cherubini. The organ is from the eighteenth century.