The Basilica of the Servants of Mary is especially dear to the Sienese because of the devotion shared by the Order of the Servites and the entire city of Siena for the Virgin Mother of God. The church of the Servites was for centuries the second Marian shrine in the city, until 1611 when the new Collegiate Church of Santa Maria in Provenzano was built. The building’s exterior is undecorated, responding in this way to the demand of the new mendicant orders for simplicity of message and form. Inside, the church contains works of immense artistic and spiritual value, devoted for the most part to the Virgin Mary; among these, especially worthy of note are the Bordone Madonna by Coppo di Marcovaldo, The Coronation of the Virgin by Bernardino Fungai, and Our Lady of Mercy by Giovanni di Paolo. The Order of the Servants of Mary, also called simply the Servites, was founded by the Florentine Seven Holy Founders, who after leaving all their goods and their families withdrew to Mount Senario, far outside Florence, to devote themselves completely to prayer and penitence. Their example was contagious, so much so that the model of life practiced by the Servants of Mary began to spread, reaching Siena in 1250. In 1304 they were recognized by Pope Benedict XI as a mendicant order. From that moment on, the convents of the Servants of Mary multiplied all over Italy and then spread to the whole . . .