Description
The church of the Santissima Annunziata is the church hidden inside the old hospital of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena, right across from the Duomo: it has no façade and shows only its brick side to the square. Inside, a single, very tall nave and a 15th-century bronze that is worth the visit.
It began as the chapel of the Spedale, in its oldest core, documented as early as a deed of gift of 1090. It was built in 1257 and in the second half of the 15th century transformed from top to bottom by Guidoccio di Andrea, with the help of the famous Francesco di Giorgio, whose decorations have been lost.
Outside, on the side facing Piazza del Duomo, the brick flank has a marble facing, a pointed portal and a loggia of mullioned windows held up by slender marble columns. High up open large Renaissance windows, some of them walled up. There is no bell tower.
Inside, the large single nave with its high coffered wooden ceiling is a surprise. The altar sits at the top of a broad flight of steps, so high that the walls of the presbytery reach all the way up to the battlements of the neighboring Palazzo del Rettore.
On the high altar is the most precious piece: Vecchietta's bronze Risen Christ, signed and dated 1476. It is considered one of the most expressive masterpieces of 15th-century Siena, often compared with Donatello's works in the city. At the sides, two bronze angels holding candlesticks, by Accursio Baldi.
At the back of the apse is the large fresco by Sebastiano Conca, from 1731-1732, showing the Pool of Bethesda: the sick wait for a miracle beside a pool in Jerusalem mentioned in the Gospel of John. A perfect subject for a hospital's church. In its place there used to be the Coronation of the Virgin by Francesco di Giorgio.
Along the nave are four marble side altars, with altarpieces by Pietro Locatelli, Giovanni Maria Morandi and Ciro Ferri, and a painted 14th-century Crucifix. They were built at the end of the 17th century, by will, for Agostino Chigi, former rector of the hospital.
Near the side portal is a marble holy water font carved in 1453 by Bartolomeo and Urbano da Cortona. On the right-hand choir loft is an organ built between 1514 and 1518 by Giovanni di Antonio Piffero, set in a richly decorated wooden case.
Don't miss
• Vecchietta's Risen Christ.
• Sebastiano Conca's fresco.
• The 16th-century organ.
Did you know?
• Conca's fresco was the last great commission of the hospital of Santa Maria della Scala.
• Vecchietta's bronze is often compared with Donatello's works in Siena.
It began as the chapel of the Spedale, in its oldest core, documented as early as a deed of gift of 1090. It was built in 1257 and in the second half of the 15th century transformed from top to bottom by Guidoccio di Andrea, with the help of the famous Francesco di Giorgio, whose decorations have been lost.
Outside, on the side facing Piazza del Duomo, the brick flank has a marble facing, a pointed portal and a loggia of mullioned windows held up by slender marble columns. High up open large Renaissance windows, some of them walled up. There is no bell tower.
Inside, the large single nave with its high coffered wooden ceiling is a surprise. The altar sits at the top of a broad flight of steps, so high that the walls of the presbytery reach all the way up to the battlements of the neighboring Palazzo del Rettore.
On the high altar is the most precious piece: Vecchietta's bronze Risen Christ, signed and dated 1476. It is considered one of the most expressive masterpieces of 15th-century Siena, often compared with Donatello's works in the city. At the sides, two bronze angels holding candlesticks, by Accursio Baldi.
At the back of the apse is the large fresco by Sebastiano Conca, from 1731-1732, showing the Pool of Bethesda: the sick wait for a miracle beside a pool in Jerusalem mentioned in the Gospel of John. A perfect subject for a hospital's church. In its place there used to be the Coronation of the Virgin by Francesco di Giorgio.
Along the nave are four marble side altars, with altarpieces by Pietro Locatelli, Giovanni Maria Morandi and Ciro Ferri, and a painted 14th-century Crucifix. They were built at the end of the 17th century, by will, for Agostino Chigi, former rector of the hospital.
Near the side portal is a marble holy water font carved in 1453 by Bartolomeo and Urbano da Cortona. On the right-hand choir loft is an organ built between 1514 and 1518 by Giovanni di Antonio Piffero, set in a richly decorated wooden case.
Don't miss
• Vecchietta's Risen Christ.
• Sebastiano Conca's fresco.
• The 16th-century organ.
Did you know?
• Conca's fresco was the last great commission of the hospital of Santa Maria della Scala.
• Vecchietta's bronze is often compared with Donatello's works in Siena.