The Basilica of San Piero a Grado is one of the oldest in this area. According to tradition, San Peter seem to have landed here. Deodato Orlandi, a painter from Lucca, is mentioned in documents and works to him ascribed from 1288 to 1337. His first work was a Crucifix, resembling that of Cimabue ‘s in S. Croce (Florence), which is actually exposed in the National Pinacoteque of Lucca. Another Crucifix of the year 1301, today at the Santa Chiara Conservatory in San Miniato, shows his artistic shift from Cimabue to Giotto new canons.

Dating back to the same year is a polyptych (Madonna with four Saints) now in Pisa at the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, together with two other works: “Madonna with Child in Throne” and a “Crucifix”. Around 1308 the artist begins to decorate with frescoes the San Piero a Grado Basilica, near Pisa, which represents his masterpiece and the introduction of new painting theories.

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