Church of San Maria Di Provenzano - Siena

Santa Maria in Provenzano, or the Insigne Collegiata di Santa Maria in Provenzano, is a late Renaissance Baroque, Roman Catholic collegiate church in Piazza Provenzano Salvani. This Marian sanctuary was built around a 14th-century terracotta icon of the Madonna, to which miracles were attributed. The Palio of Siena takes place on the day of the veneration of this Marian devotion.

According to tradition, the Sienese's lack of faith would have caused the Madonna to give up her protection, eventually leading to the subjugation of Siena by the Holy Roman Emperor and his Florentine allies. The terracotta of the Madonna di Provenzano was shattered. This is said to be the result of an errant or brazen shot by a Spanish soldier in the army of occupation of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Legend has it that the event caused a change in the soldier. He died or repented of the event.

Fifty years later, this neighborhood was considered one of the most morally unhealthy corners of the city. An old prostitute from the neighborhood prayed to the icon of the Madonna, and overnight her ulcerated lesion was healed.

The statue became a destination for the devotion of the faithful. Soon the church gave in and in 1594 ordered the construction of a church as a sanctuary to the icon; the architect Flaminio Del Turco was hired to design it. The Medici family was among the patrons who raised money for the construction of the new church. In 1806 the effigy was covered with silver, out of respect and to protect the icon. Due to conservation of the work, the silver has partly emerged.

The first altar on the right represents the Mass of San Cerbone (1630) by Rutilio Manetti. It depicts a miracle that occurred when the Holy Bishop of Massa Marittima saw apparitions of angels during a service he called for the Pope. The canvas was commissioned by the Bishop of Massa Marittima, Fabio Piccolomini.

The second altar on the right has a canvas depicting the Saints Catherine of Siena and Catherine of Alexandria by Francesco Rustici, and one of the Annunciation by Giovanni Domenico Manenti.

On the first altar on the left is an altarpiece depicting Saint Catherine of Siena and a vision of the martyrdom of Saint Laurentius (1685), by Dionisio Montorselli. The canvas first hung in the former Sienese church of San Lorenzo, which was destroyed. The second altar on the left has a wooden crucifix from the 19th century.

The parapets of the dome are frescoed depicting the four patron saints of Siena: Saint Ansano (1715) painted by Giuseppe Nicola Nasini; Saint Savino and Saint Crescenzio (1727) by Vincenzo Meucci; and Saint Vittore (1726) by Gasparo Bidelli.[5] Along the walls are monochrome canvases depicting the Dream of Saint John the Evangelist and the Mass of Saint Gregory Magno by Bernardino Mei and Deifebo Burbarini. Along the nave hang four large paintings depicting the Nativity of Mary, the Visitation, the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the Coronation of the Virgin by Luigi Boschi and Giovanni Bruni.

In the transept are paintings of venerated persons who have lived in the same area: Saint Bernardo Tolomei and Blessed Savina Petrilli (2013), by Francesco Mori. The polychrome marble floor under the dome shows the heraldic symbols of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany Cosimo III de' Medici and Margherita Luisa d'Orléans, and of the Florentine and Sienese states. It is surrounded by the symbols of the nearby dioceses of the ancient Republic of Siena: Grosseto, Sovana, Pienza, Montalcino, Massa Marittima and Chiusi.

The main altar houses the terracotta icon of the Madonna di Provenzano in an architectural work (1617-1632) by Flaminio del Turco. The icon is surrounded by a "glory" of silver angels and bronze statues of Saints Catherine and Bernardino, sculpted by Giovanni Battista Querci. Some of the draperies on the altar bear the symbols of Pope Alexander VII, the last Pope of Siena. In the sacristy is a Compianto sul Cristo morto by Alessandro Casolani.

In the apse hangs a flag captured by the Sienese mercenary Paolo Amerighi from the Turks during the Battle of Vienna (1683), at the height of the Ottoman invasion of Europe. In the opposite wall hangs a flag of the Medici Fortress in Siena, donated by Grand Duke Peter Leopold as a sign of the demilitarization of the city.

Below the church, in the former crypt, is the Oratory del Suffragio, the chapel of the Contrada of Giraffa. The entrance is on Via della Vergine.

Willem Vandenameele