Siena Churches

Church of Santa Maria dei Servi has a Romanesque architecture with a bell tower and a famous fresco inside. It was built in the 13th century and altered in the next two centuries in period style. Still the plain facade remains unfinished. The campanile on the facade right has four orders of windows. In addition a central nave flanked by two aisles and a number of notable artworks are into this beautiful church. The Madonna del Bardone (the Virgin and Child with two Angels) by Coppo di Marcovaldo(1261), the famous Slaughter of the Innocents fresco by Pietro Lorenzetti are some of the best masterpieces in this church.

Santa Maria dei Servi, Siena

The construction of the church of San Giuseppe begun in 1521 and continue for the whole century. The facade was finished in 1653 and is mostly in brickwork with two surmounted by an octagonal dome with a lantern. The decoration is attributed to the Nasini family. The Contrada’s museum is located within the crypt, a suggestive 16th century hall.

Located in the Prato San’t Agostino at southeast of National Gallery, the construction of the church dates back to 1258 and lasted for more than fifty years. Originally belonging to an Augustinian house, the church has other renovations and reconstructions were carried on in the following centuries.

Luigi Vanvitelli redesigned the interior in the 18th century, has maintained the large high altars in polychrome marble from the 16th – 17th centuries. In the Baroque interior are pictures by Perugino – Crucifixion, 1506; Matteo di Giovanni – Slaughter of the Innocents, 1482: and Sodoma – Adorations of the Kings, 1528.

The church contains a huge number of artworks, A partial list includes: the Baptism of Constantine by Francesco Vanni, a Trinity and Saints altarpiece by Pietro Sorri, the funerary monument of Agostino Chigi (1631), the right chapels are a Birth of the Virgin and a Nativity by Francesco di Giorgio Martini and workshop, an altarpiece with the Path to the Calvary by Ventura Salimbeni, the monument to Pope Pius II (1850), the Piccolomini altar, in polychrome marble (1596), which also include paintings by Il Sodoma (Adoration of the Magi) and Perugino (Crufixion).

San Agostino, Siena

San Martino is a church known from the 12th century; it was enlarged and renovated in the 16th century. In 1613 the façade was built and the bell tower completed in 1738. The restoration was patronized by the de’Vecchi family in the 17th century, who commissioned the decorations to the Mazzuoli family.

The interior, in the counter facade, has an Immacolate Conception Protecting Siena during the Battle of Camullia by Giovanni di Lorenzo, commissioned by the city's commune in 1528. In the chapels are: the Circumcision of Jesus, one of Guido Reni's masterworks, the Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew (1637) by Guercino and the Nativity by Domenico Beccafumi.

Known as Basilica Cateriniana, San Domenico is one of the most important basilicas in the city. The church was built in 1226 on top of a hill near to the Fonte Branda by Dominican Monks, but was enlarged in the 14th century to the current Gothic appearance.

This vast brick church in Siena was founded by Dominicans in 1125 as part of their friary. It is an enormous, severe structure jutting above a modern section of town and provides good views of the Duomo and Siena's rooftops. The building has a lofty bell tower on the left which was reduced in height after an earthquake in 1798. The interior is on the Egyptian cross plan with a huge nave covered by trusses and with a transept featuring high chapels.

Also the Basilica di San Domenico is known as the Church of the Dead, as many tombs lie within. Within the wall of the crypt is a fine work of art, a golden cross painted by Sano di Pietro. The bell tower was completed in 1340 but the basilca was fully finished until 1465. The interior of the church holds the Capella delle Volte, frescoes by Sodoma and the Capella di Santa Caterina.

San Domenico, Siena

The medieval building is known from 1081, but only the Romanesque Gothic bell tower remains today. The current appearance dates to the intervention of Pietro Cremoni, who finished its reconstruction in 1738.

Two giant columns and the coat of arms of Cardinal Anton Felice Zondadari, patron of the restoration characterized the facade of church. In the interior, on the counter facade, is the polychrome funerary monument to the painter Francesco Vanni (1656). Vanni himself provided the canvas with the Crucifix with Fra Matteo Guerra, while a Rendezvous on the Calvary is by Raffaello Vanni. The transept houses the tombs of two member of the Zondadari family.

A basilica church in Siena was erected in 1228-1255, later it was enlarged in the 14th-15th centuries, the original Romanesque building being turned into the current large Gothic one.

San Francesco is on the Egyptian Cross plan, with a nave covered by spans and a transept, according to type favoured by the Mendicant Orders which needed spaces capable to house large crowds of faithful. After the fire in 1655 and the restoration of 1885-1892, the current interior looks rather sober. In spite of the Baroque altars were demolished and part of the paintings has been returned in recent times. The medieval marble decoration and the 15th century portal were removed in that occasion.

San Francesco, Siena

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