The Basilica of the Servants of Mary

Building Site of the Basilica

In 1263, the Servite friars tore down the ancient, tumbledown church of San Clemente, and used the bricks and other building material in part to build their new church and large convent. Despite the Guelph tendencies of the Order of the Servants of Mary, the commune of Siena, which was Ghibelline, chose to contribute to the construction by giving the Servites a large quantity of bricks but no money, so as to be sure that their aid would be used only for building purposes. In the year 1300 an indulgence was proclaimed for anyone who participated in some way in furthering the work of the church, which was already called Santa Maria dei Servi.
In 1298 a part of the church was probably finished, because in that year the road in front of it was paved, while it took until 1416 for the square to be completed, when the stairs of the ancient church of San Clemente were demolished. The square is now named for Alessandro Manzoni, who came here to see his daughters Vittoria and Matilde, the second and youngest of whom died in Siena, as a plaque in the corridor of the convent commemorates.
As early as the beginning of the fourteenth century, work to enlarge the building began, and soon after that a bell tower was built, since torn down. In 1363 the four apse chapels were completed; for this work the Commune of Siena allowed the Servites to use the bricks and tiles recovered from the ancient Castel Montorio, which was located nearby and by this point in ruins. The Sienese artist and woodcarver Ventura Turapilli directed the final phase of work on the church in the early years of the sixteenth century and also drew up a plan for the façade, which was never realized; even today the front of the church is bare. It was the usual practice in building a new church for work to begin in the area of the altar, with the façade being the last element to be done.
On 18 April 1533 the bishop of Pienza Girolamo Piccolomini was able to consecrate the church, as a plaque placed near the entrance attests, to the “Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God,” anticipating by three-hundred years the official dogma of the Immaculate Conception, proclaimed in 1854. The consecration took place during the General Chapter of the Order of the Servants of Mary, held in Siena to celebrate the third centenary of its foundation.
The exterior staircase, reflecting the baroque style, was built in the middle of the eighteenth century; from here one can enjoy a beautiful view of Siena.