We urge you to continue your tour in the museum, which houses art works and liturgical objects from Colle di Val d’Elsa and the surrounding countryside. Most of these holdings were originally in the churches within the city. Among the works once placed in the Co-cathedral we can admire:
Giovanni Antonio Galli, known as Spadarino (1585-1651/53): Saint Sylvester I Baptizing the Emperor Constantine, first half of the 17th century, oil on canvas. The painting once hung above the altar of the Cathedral chapel dedicated to Saint Sylvester, after the name of the noble Salvestrini family of Colle who financed it; the chapel was dismantled in 1874 in order to dedicate it to the Immaculate Conception. The canvas shows the Saint baptizing the Emperor Constantine. This episode is considered to be the event that marked the end of the persecutions of the early Christians by the Roman Emperors.
Gennaro Landi (painter active from the last decade of the 18th to the early 19th century): Angels Carrying the Image of Our Lady of Comfort above the Cathedrals of Arezzo and Colle, oil on canvas. This painting was placed in 1801 in the Chapel of the Ascension by Bishop Raimondo Luigi Vecchietti to celebrate the departure of the French army from Tuscany. It shows a group of angels holding the image of Our Lady of Comfort above the Cathedrals of Colle di Val d’Elsa and Arezzo. It is thought that it remained on the altar until 1879, when it was brought into the museum to make room in the chapel for the painting of the Ascension of Christ.
Especially noteworthy are the objects made of precious metals, datable from the late sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century. These are mainly chalices used for the consecration of the wine and the distribution of the Eucharist; the most prestigious also have their paten, which is the round plate on which the Host is placed before and after consecration.
Among the oldest are the chalice and paten, called Saint Albert’s, made in Florence in the middle of the fifteenth century. Crafted of copper gilt, they are decorated with plaques of translucent enamel over silver showing Saints and angels and the important relic of the Holy Nail.
The treasure of Galognano is a set of holy vessels made up of four chalices, a paten and a silver spoon, dated to the sixth century AD. The name derives from an inscription on one of the chalices mentioning the church, now destroyed, of Galognano, located a short distance away from where the objects were found. It is thought that the set was hidden by the Goths because of the threat of arrival of the Longobards.