Santa Caterina is mentioned for the first time in 1211, then associated with a hospital. The current edifice was built between 1251 and 1300, commissioned by
Saint Dominic and entrusted to the
friars of his order. The façade (completed in 1326) has a pointed shape with white and grey marble, with, in the upper section, two order of small Gothic
loggias and a central
rose window. The interior, after a fire in 1651, is on a single large hall. Renovated in the 18th century, it houses works by
Lippo Memmi (
Triumph of St Thomas, 1323),
Fra Bartolomeo (
Madonna with Sts Peter and Paul, 1511),
Santi di Tito,
Aurelio Lomi (
Martyrdom of St Catherine),
Raffaello Vanni,
Pietro Dandini (all 16th-17th centuries) and marble sculptures by
Andrea Pisano (Tomb of Archbishop
Simone Saltarelli, 1343) and his son
Nino Pisano ("Annunciation", 1368). Also notable is the tomb of Gherardo Compagni, decorated with a late 16th-century "Pietà" statue. The wooden pulpit from the 17th century, according to the tradition, was that from which St Thomas Acquinas preached. In 1320,
Simone Martini painted for this church the
Saint Catherine of Alexandria Polyptych, one of his best known works. It was later moved to the
San Matteo Museum in Pisa. The church is flanked by a bell tower with
mullioned windows, attributed to
Giovanni di Simone. ==References==