The Terzo of San Martino

The church of San Clemente dei Servi di Maria is located along the southern stretch of the Via Francigena on the south side of Siena, in the section of the town known as the “Third,” or Terzo, of San Martino. The building activity that involved this area and in general all of Siena began in the thirteenth century, the period when the city’s economy was flourishing thanks to its territorial expansion towards what is now the province of Grosseto. The first major urban transformations took place in the northern part of the city with the enlargement of the defense structures and the establishment of the first mendicant orders, which settled inside the city walls to spread the Gospel. The Dominicans and Franciscans built their basilicas in a symmetrical position on either side of the northern stretch of the Via Francigena, while the Augustinians settled in the ancient city core, called Castelvecchio. The preaching activity on the north side (fig. 1) contrasted with situation of the Terzo di San Martino, which was left without this service until the gradual move of the economic activity towards the southern portion of the Via Francigena resulted in the arrival of the first religious settlements here too. The first to arrive were the Servants of Mary, who in 1252 occupied the church of San Clemente, built on the legendary hill where the fortified . . .