Lucca-born sculptor and architect Matteo Civitali (1436-1501) spent most of his life working on churches and villas in and around in his hometown and refused to be influenced by his counterparts in Florence. He is considered the leading exponent of a strictly Lucchese Renaissance art, and he designed both the Cattedrale di San Martino pulpit and the 15th-century tempietto (small temple) in the north aisle that contains the Volto Santo.
Legend has it that this simply fashioned image of a life-sized Christ on a wooden crucifix, in fact dated to the 11th century, was carved by Nicodemus, who witnessed the crucifixion. A major object of pilgrimage, it's carried in procession through the streets each 13 September at dusk during the Luminaria di Santa Croce.
