San Nicola, Romanesque church in Pisa, Italy

San Nicola is a church on via Santa Maria whose facade has pilaster strips, blind arches and lozenges with 12th-century intarsia, and a green-framed wooden door under carved arches. Its octagonal bell tower, with blind arcades and lozenges on each side, is slightly tilted and its base lies below today's street level.

San Nicola is documented from 1097 together with its convent. Between 1297 and 1313 the Augustinians enlarged the church, perhaps to a design by Giovanni Pisano for the eastern side. In 1614 Matteo Nigetti added the Sacrament Chapel and new altars during a 17th-century restoration.

Inside, a 14th-century panel by Francesco Traini shows the Madonna and Child, while a 15th-century painting depicts Saint Nicholas saving Pisa from the plague. The saint was a patron invoked against epidemics, and the church's name day is celebrated on 6 December.

The church stands on via Santa Maria, 2, in Pisa's centre. A covered passage on arches crosses the street from the church to the Torre De Cantone and on into the Palazzo delle Vedove, so the Medici women lodged there could reach mass without going down into the street. The bell tower's base lies below today's street level and the tower leans slightly.

The bell tower's spiral staircase is not enclosed between two walls as in the Leaning Tower; it winds free toward the interior, carried on a helical gallery of small sloping arches on columns. Its polychromy comes from light grey verrucano, dark grey Livorno panchina stone, white Apuan marble, Elba granite and grey limestone from San Giuliano Terme.