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A striped Romanesque-Gothic pile, richly decorated by the likes of Giovanni Pisano, Donatello, Pinturicchio, Michelangelo, Beccafumi and Bernini.

The “Medieval Manhattan’s” main church is covered inside with 14th- and 15th-century frescoes, including a cycle by Ghirlandaio in the Chapel of St Fina. (see Collegiata)

Beside the Pisan-Romanesque exterior, only a few elements, such as Cimabue’s apse mosaic of 1302, survived a 1595 fire. However, the late Renaissance/early Baroque refurbishment was stylish, and local legend holds the swinging of the nave’s large bronze lamp inspired Galileo’s Law of Pendulums. (see San Gimignano)

San Martino is a masterpiece of Romanesque stacked open arcades, stuffed with sculpture from Gothic reliefs to works by two great 15th-century talents, local Matteo Civitale and Sienese Jacopo della Quercia. (see Lucca)

This isolated Cistercian abbey was founded by Charlemagne, but the building dates from 1118. Inside, several column capitals are beautifully carved in alabaster. White-robed monks sing a Gregorian chant five times daily; ask them for a peek at the sacristy’s earthy frescoes.

A split personality cathedral: Romanesque arcading topped by Gothic pinnacles and belltower. It houses wonderfully idiosyncratic sculpture: three takes on the life of local patron San Cerbone and lovely pre-Romanesque carvings.

Michelozzo’s outside pulpit ensures that crowds in the piazza are able to see the bishop display the Virgin’s girdle (see Virgin’s Girdle (Prato, Duomo)). The graceful frescoes in the choir by Filippo Lippi include a famous scene of Salomé presenting Herod with the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

A 15-year restoration of the choir’s Legend of the True Cross (1448–66), the greatest fresco cycle by Piero della Francesca, has revived the vitality and vibrancy of this masterpiece.

Andrea della Robbia’s enamelled terracotta entrance accents the Romanesque exterior’s zebra stripes. The Altar of St Jacobo (1287–1456) contains some of Italy’s finest silversmithing. Ask the custodian to show you Verrocchio’s Madonna di Piazza (1485).

Behind the Classical façade is a reinterpreted German Gothic building, the result of Piccolomini Pope Pius II’s interference in Rossellino’s initial plan to build the perfect Renaissance town.