San Martino, Romanesque parish church in Palaia, Italy

The Pieve di San Martino in Palaia is a brick church decorated with hanging arches. Its interior has three naves with round arches on columns, some round and some composed of four half-columns bound into a single block. The facade is animated by ogival openings.

The pieve was founded in 1280. Its mix of Romanesque and Gothic elements suggests the building went up in two successive phases, so the fabric visible today records more than one campaign of work rather than a single construction date.

Inside stands a cylindrical holy water stoup from the 12th century, older than the 1280 church itself. The building is in brick, with hanging arches on the outside and a facade opened by ogival windows.

The church stands in Palaia, in the province of Pisa, and is listed among the region of Tuscany's "Luoghi della Fede" places of worship, where its record can be consulted. The facade faces the street with its pointed openings, so the exterior and the brick arches can be seen without entering.

The coexistence of Romanesque and Gothic elements suggests the church was built in two successive phases, so the facade's pointed openings sit alongside round-arched arcading. Inside, look for the 12th-century cylindrical holy water stoup, older than the 1280 founding of the pieve.