Museo di San Pietro all'Orto

The Museo di San Pietro all'Orto in Massa Marittima preserves medieval art once associated with the town's churches. Its collection includes Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Maestà of about 1335, sculptures attributed to Giovanni Pisano and works associated with Gano di Fazio.

Why it matters

The museum documents the artistic life of Massa Marittima during the medieval period, when the commune commissioned leading painters and sculptors from Pisa and Siena. Created in 2005 through cooperation among the municipality, diocesan curia and Soprintendenza, it brought together works displaced from the cathedral and former convent of Sant'Agostino. Lorenzetti's Maestà, rediscovered in the convent's cellars in the late nineteenth century, was recognised as an altarpiece by the Sienese painter.

What to notice

The collection includes three sculptures attributed to Giovanni Pisano, once associated with the cathedral facade, and eleven marble statuettes of saints, apostles and prophets, eight attributed to Gano di Fazio. Ten panels of grey alabaster bas-reliefs remain difficult to date. Lorenzetti's Maestà depicts the Madonna in majesty surrounded by angels, saints, prophets and evangelists. Other holdings include a crucifix identified by art historian Max Seidel as a work by Giovanni Pisano, a wooden crucifix associated with Pietro Lorenzetti and an Annunciation angel by Sassetta.

Context and history

Augustinian friars established a convent beside the older church of San Pietro all'Orto. Construction of Sant'Agostino began in 1299, replacing the earlier church. After Italian unification the friars left, and the complex served as a kindergarten and primary school for generations. The museum's collection reflects a history of rescue and rediscovery: paintings were recovered behind altars, in storage rooms and in attics from the late nineteenth century onward, while other works were recovered after thefts. The 2005 museum project brought many of these works together.