The building that is now home to the Museo delle Sinopie was founded in 1257 as Spedale Nuovo di Santo Spirito, also known as Spedale di Papa Alessandro.

After the bombing that burnt the roof of the Monumental Cemetery in 1944 under the fresco paintings appeared the preparatory drawings. However tragic it was, the fire of 1944 unearthed this extraordinary wealth of graphic works that would have otherwise withheld their beauty for centuries. The discovery of the sinopie of the Cemetery of Pisa is one of the extremely rare cases in which we can admire a whole cycle of frescoes with the attendant autograph preparatory drawings. A comparison between the sinopia displayed in the museum and the engraving, showing the appearance of the fresco, shows details that, in the transition from the preliminary drawing to the wall painting, were often changed, reworked or even eliminated by the artist.

The sinopia is the initial and preparatory stage of the fresco painting, drawn with red powder pigments coming from Sinope, on the Black Sea, which is then cover with the plaster that will hold the final fresco painting.

Among the most admirable Sinopie there are Trionfo della morte by Buffalmacco, the Crocifissione by Francesco Traini, the Storie di Giobbe by Taddeo Gaddi, the Storie del vecchio testamento e l'Inconorazione della vergine by Piero di Puccio and some works by Benozzo Gozzoli.

Opening hours:

from November to February from10.00 to 17.00; March from 9.00 to 18.00 (until the 13th) from 9.00 to 19.00 (until the 20th) from 8.00 to 20.00 (from the 21st ); from April to September from 8.00 to 20.00; October from 9.00 to 19.00.

Place: Piazza Arcivescovado, 6, 56126  Pisa

Telephone contacts: +39 050 560547