Description
The Cappella di Piazza is a marble tabernacle at the foot of the Torre del Mangia, in Piazza del Campo. It juts out from the Palazzo Pubblico and is the only building that steps out of the line of the palaces around the square: you spot it at once, small as it is.
The little chapel stands right under the Torre del Mangia, next to the Palazzo Pubblico, and can be seen from every point of the square.
The corner pillars have Gothic niches with statues of saints, carved between 1378 and 1382 by Mariano d'Angelo Romanelli. The one exception is Saint Bartholomew alone, low on the left pillar at the front, by Bartolomeo di Tommé, known as Pizzino.
Up above is the Renaissance vault by Antonio Federighi, supported by round arches. His too is the decoration of the crowning, whimsical and antique in feel.
The wrought-iron railings are 14th-century, the work of Conte di Iello Orlandi and Pietruccio di Betto. In the side enclosure there are marbles with a 13th-century Pisan-style bas-relief, which perhaps comes from the Duomo's old baptismal font, dismantled when the baptistery was created.
The chapel exists because of a vow. In 1348 the Black Death struck Siena, and in 1352 the city decided to thank the Virgin for deliverance from the danger with this tabernacle.
The work took a long time. The construction, begun by Domenico di Agostino, went on for decades: the corner pillars were rebuilt several times and took today's form in 1376, under the direction of Giovanni di Cecco. At that time they were only pillars, with a simple roof over them.
A century later came Federighi, who between 1461 and 1468 replaced the simple canopy with the stone vault. The marbles of the front were redone in 1846 by Enea Becheroni.
Above the altar, between 1537 and 1539, Sodoma frescoed the Madonna with the Child and God the Father. Only fragments of that fresco remain, now in the Museo Civico of the Palazzo Pubblico, a few steps from the chapel.
The little chapel stands right under the Torre del Mangia, next to the Palazzo Pubblico, and can be seen from every point of the square.
The corner pillars have Gothic niches with statues of saints, carved between 1378 and 1382 by Mariano d'Angelo Romanelli. The one exception is Saint Bartholomew alone, low on the left pillar at the front, by Bartolomeo di Tommé, known as Pizzino.
Up above is the Renaissance vault by Antonio Federighi, supported by round arches. His too is the decoration of the crowning, whimsical and antique in feel.
The wrought-iron railings are 14th-century, the work of Conte di Iello Orlandi and Pietruccio di Betto. In the side enclosure there are marbles with a 13th-century Pisan-style bas-relief, which perhaps comes from the Duomo's old baptismal font, dismantled when the baptistery was created.
The chapel exists because of a vow. In 1348 the Black Death struck Siena, and in 1352 the city decided to thank the Virgin for deliverance from the danger with this tabernacle.
The work took a long time. The construction, begun by Domenico di Agostino, went on for decades: the corner pillars were rebuilt several times and took today's form in 1376, under the direction of Giovanni di Cecco. At that time they were only pillars, with a simple roof over them.
A century later came Federighi, who between 1461 and 1468 replaced the simple canopy with the stone vault. The marbles of the front were redone in 1846 by Enea Becheroni.
Above the altar, between 1537 and 1539, Sodoma frescoed the Madonna with the Child and God the Father. Only fragments of that fresco remain, now in the Museo Civico of the Palazzo Pubblico, a few steps from the chapel.