The Collegiate Church of Santa Maria in Provenzano

Virgin of Provenzano Devotion

There are various versions of the origins of the little statue. The first is given by Girolamo Macchi, a compiler of news about Siena, who reports that it was made in 1412 by Giovanni Battista Tagliaborse, a potter in the Camollia district, and bought by a nobleman from Modena, one Sciti di Madonna. He took it to the house of a prostitute from Pistoia named Lisabetta Turini, who lived on the Provenzano road. The woman abandoned her sinful ways and left the house to her confessor when she died, obligating him to keep two lamps constantly burning in front of the sacred image.
A second version comes from Girolamo Mattei, sacristan at Provenzano, who says that the terracotta sculpture was commissioned by a certain Jacomo Salimbene, who gave it to a woman living in a house in Provenzano.
Reliable information about the statue was lacking until the house which probably contained the image was bought by Caterina Scala. The little terracotta sculpture of Our Lady was placed in the outer frame of one of the three little windows, specifically the middle one, which opened onto the church of San Pietro a Ovile, thus giving the image its first rudimentary altar. Beneath it, Bartolomeo Carosi, known popularly as Brandano, a legendary figure in Siena, used to stop and pray. After a life devoted to gambling and drinking, as a result of an accident that risked leaving him blind, he converted and began preaching in the streets of Siena. Standing on a barrel under the statuette, he prophesied, “All of Siena will come to Provenzano,” and “Siena, you will see all your women go to Provenzano.” These words aroused dismay and shame in the people because of the ill repute that characterized this neighborhood at that time. In reality, these prophecies came true when the first miracles were performed after praying before the image, and the whole city poured into Provenzano to see, venerate and implore the miraculous image.