May 1479. The plague strikes in Pisa, where Benozzo Gozzoli, a Florentine and perhaps a disciple of Beato Angelico, is working on the Camposanto. It is necessary to seek refuge and Benozzo chooses Legoli, probably due to some agreements previously made with the community of this little town for the decoration of a monumental country tabernacle. As a matter of fact, here he is. The themes of death and suffering caused by the epidemic clearly emerge in the frescoes, especially in the heart breaking representation of the Crucifixion of Christ with the Virgin and the Saints Francis, Dominic and John the Evangelist. Also intense are the scenes of the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian and the Incredulity of St. Thomas, where the apostle touches the wound in Jesus’ torso. The other frescoes depict the Annunciation, the Evangelists, the Fathers of the Church with a blessing Christ in the center, a Sacred Conversation with three angels holding curtains and a Christ carrying the cross on the background of a medieval town. The interventions in 1822 by Alessio del Fanteria, who built a funerary oratory around the tabernacle and dedicated it to Santa Caterina, make it appear today as a small chapel.
