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 structure of Castel Montorio stood. The community developed rapidly from the very beginning, since it was the first easily visible church inside the city walls for wayfarers returning from Rome, and it became a point of reference for Sienese spirituality and the urban organization of the southern part of the city. The parishes of Castel Montorio and of San Michele Arcangelo, adjacent to the convent, were entrusted to the care of the Servites, and in 1416 the space in front of the church was opened up by tearing down some houses to give greater visibility to the church façade. In the following centuries the church continued to preserve its fourteenth-century look, which still today gives it a special charm. The church’s position in one of the most beautiful spots in the city gives it a view of both the Palazzo Pubblico and the Cathedral. The greatness of the Servites can still be seen today in the large convent, now partially occupied by the classrooms of the School of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Siena.
Oratory of the Holy Trinity
In the left transept of the church is a little door that links the church to the Oratorio della Santissima Trinità, the Oratory of the Holy Trinity. The presence of the oratory behind the apse of the basilica is attested in 1499, but the origin of the company that used it dates back to 1298 when the Servite friar Francesco Patrizi founded at the Basilica of the Servites the “Society Minor of the Virgin Mary.” In 1338 some brothers decided to give it the title of the Holy Trinity because Pope John XXII had introduced this feast during that year. The oratory, built on a bipartite ground plan, was entirely decorated by the greatest painters of the sixteenth and seventeenth century, whose works are present also in the Basilica of Santa Maria dei Servi. Inside the oratory, white and gold stucco work frames paintings by Astolfo Petrazzi, Rafaello Vanni, and Giuseppe Nicola Nasini. Especially noteworthy are the frescoes on the ceiling by Ventura Salimbeni and the bronze crucifix by Prospero Antichi, known as Brescianino. The company is active still today and hosts the contrada of Valmontone, enabling the contrada to use the church as its oratory.