San Martino Cathedral

San Martino Cathedra was built in a zone secondary to the city and in contrast to its importance looks over a little piazza and other buildings which cover it.
Founded by San Frediano bishop of Lucca in the 1500's, modified in the 9th century, it was then totally reconstructed in the 11th century on the wishes of Pope Alexander II, the actual apse is from 1308, with other interventions were done in the 14th and 15th century.
The elegant polychrome marble façade, with three rows of arches leaning on the three large arches of the base, recall its Pisa style; in a lunette the beautiful Deposition of Christ by Nicola Pisano. The interior was completely rennovated in the 14th century, and among other things it holds the very famous Sarcophagus of Ilaria del Caretto, wife of Paolo Guinigi, who died while giving birth at age 25 in 1404. Some scholars sustain, however, that the tomb was that of the first wife of Guinigi, Maria Caternia Altminelli, who died at only 12 years of age in 1401. This theory seems supported by the fact that the young person of the sarcophagus is only 141 cm tall, while it is documented that Ilaria was tall, and that she had a very childlike appearance. Work of Iacopo della Quercia, the sarcophagus is considered very representative of Italian Gothic Renaissance style.
Inside you will also find the tabernacle of the "Volto Santo", which contains and protects a Byzantine wooden cross from the 7th century venerated during the nighttime procession of the "Santa Croce" during the month of September, and the cloth of the famous Domenico Ghirlandaio, Cosimo Rosselli, Tintoretto, Federico Zuccari, Domenico Passignano.