Description
The Logge del Papa ("the Pope's Loggias") are a Renaissance loggia in Siena, at the end of Via Banchi di Sotto, next to the church of San Martino. Three travertine arches, a Latin dedication and a family story: a pope's gift to his relatives.
The dedication can be read on the architrave, in clear letters: "Pius II Pont Max gentilibus suis Piccolomineis", that is, "Pius II, Supreme Pontiff, to his Piccolomini kinsmen". The pope made no secret of it, and wrote it in stone.
The facade is in travertine, with three Renaissance arches on Corinthian capitals. Up above, over the architrave with the dedication, runs an attic of brick: the contrast between pale stone and brick is what sets it apart.
The design is by the Sienese architect Antonio Federighi, a sculptor and architect of the Sienese Renaissance inspired by ancient classical art. The Logge were built in 1461-1463, the same years in which he was finishing the crowning of the Cappella di Piazza.
The patron was Pius II, born in Corsignano, now Pienza, as Enea Silvio Piccolomini. His family, the Piccolomini, had their palace right next door, and it was to them that the pope gave the loggia.
The relationship between the pope and Siena was not an easy one. As a cardinal, in 1456, he was refused entry to the city, and the Sienese's old distrust had turned into hostility. As pontiff, though, he forgot neither his relatives nor his native town: he gave Corsignano a new urban form, and Pienza was born.
This loggia is his gift to the family, in a city that had treated him coldly: an elegant facade and an inscription impossible to ignore.
Next to it stands the church of San Martino, documented as early as the 8th century and so important in the early Middle Ages that it gave its name to one of the city's three Terzi. It was renovated in 1537, while the facade was built from 1613.
Inside San Martino there are canvases by Beccafumi, Guido Reni (a Circumcision from 1636) and Guercino. The Logge and the church thus form a corner that brings together Renaissance architecture and first-rate painting.
The Basilica of San Francesco also recalls the pope's family: in 1459 Federighi carved for Pius II the busts of his parents, Silvio Piccolomini and Vittoria Forteguerri, which were moved from Pienza to that church.
The dedication can be read on the architrave, in clear letters: "Pius II Pont Max gentilibus suis Piccolomineis", that is, "Pius II, Supreme Pontiff, to his Piccolomini kinsmen". The pope made no secret of it, and wrote it in stone.
The facade is in travertine, with three Renaissance arches on Corinthian capitals. Up above, over the architrave with the dedication, runs an attic of brick: the contrast between pale stone and brick is what sets it apart.
The design is by the Sienese architect Antonio Federighi, a sculptor and architect of the Sienese Renaissance inspired by ancient classical art. The Logge were built in 1461-1463, the same years in which he was finishing the crowning of the Cappella di Piazza.
The patron was Pius II, born in Corsignano, now Pienza, as Enea Silvio Piccolomini. His family, the Piccolomini, had their palace right next door, and it was to them that the pope gave the loggia.
The relationship between the pope and Siena was not an easy one. As a cardinal, in 1456, he was refused entry to the city, and the Sienese's old distrust had turned into hostility. As pontiff, though, he forgot neither his relatives nor his native town: he gave Corsignano a new urban form, and Pienza was born.
This loggia is his gift to the family, in a city that had treated him coldly: an elegant facade and an inscription impossible to ignore.
Next to it stands the church of San Martino, documented as early as the 8th century and so important in the early Middle Ages that it gave its name to one of the city's three Terzi. It was renovated in 1537, while the facade was built from 1613.
Inside San Martino there are canvases by Beccafumi, Guido Reni (a Circumcision from 1636) and Guercino. The Logge and the church thus form a corner that brings together Renaissance architecture and first-rate painting.
The Basilica of San Francesco also recalls the pope's family: in 1459 Federighi carved for Pius II the busts of his parents, Silvio Piccolomini and Vittoria Forteguerri, which were moved from Pienza to that church.