The Oratory of Saint Bernardino al Prato The church stands at the Antiporto of Camollia, in front of the church of Santa Petronilla where a lazarette rose in the Middle Ages. In the lunette above the door, inside the blazing sun bearing the IHS monogram, is a half-length portrait of Saint Bernardino. Today, the interior aspect is the result of the intervention made in 1926, during which the Baroque side altars were removed. The most important work preserved in this church is the beautiful altarpiece by Paolo di Giovanni Fei depicting the Virgin and Child with Saints (dating back to 1380 approx.), whose magnificence and abundance of details anticipate the International Gothic style. In 1688 the oratory became the seat of the Venerabile Compagnia di Saint Bernardino at Prato di Camollia.

Via del Sasso di San Bernardino Along Via Camollia, heading towards the centre, we come across a small road called “Via del Sasso di San Bernardino”. It is the place where, according to tradition, Bernardino delivered his first sermons to the Sienese after the ones at the Alberino. The sasso (stone) recalls the improvised stone pulpit used by the saint. Next to the street stands the Oratory of Sant’Anna in Sant’Onofrio, where the polychrome terracotta bust of Saint Bernardino, made in the late fifteenth century, is preserved. The bust, probably a part of a full-figured sculpture, was . . .