Chiesa Santa Maria della Spina is a Pisan Gothic style church located in Pisa on the left bank of the Arno. A small architecture in polychrome marble, it once housed the Holy Thorn, from which it took its name. The temple, built in 1230 by the Gualandi family, was originally called Santa Maria di Pontenovo, because of the bridge that connected via Sant'Antonio to via Santa Maria, which later collapsed in the 15th century. The name Spina derives from the fact that it housed a thorn that was said to have been part of the crown worn by Jesus at his crucifixion and brought here in 1333, but kept in the church of Santa Chiara since the 19th century.
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