Santa Maria della Spina is a small but beautiful church located in Pisa, Italy. It was established around 1230 following a Gothic style and efforts to enlarge the church took place after 1325. It was initially called Santa Maria di Pontenovo after a newer bridge nearby collapsed and was never reconstructed. The name “della Spina” originated from the presence of a thorn or part of the crown of thorns that was forced upon Jesus Christ’s head during his Crucifixion. In 1871, the church was demolished and rebuilt on higher ground due to the possibility of water infiltrating from the Arno river. Today, the church comes under the city’s administration, but in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was placed under that of a local hospital.