In 1212 Saint Francis went to Siena for the first time. It is said that the Divine Will showed him the way: one day, at a crossroads between Florence, Siena and Arezzo, Saint Francis wasn’t sure on where to go. He asked friar Masseo, who was with him, to turn round and round so many times that he eventually fell to the ground with his head turned towards Siena; that was the sign that indicated the right way to go. The town was disturbed by many disputes and strong internal conflicts, and for this reason the help of the Poverello of Assisi was strongly needed. With his sermons, he brought peace back to the city to the Bishop’s great joy. One day, as he was walking outside Siena's walls looking for some tranquillity, Francis placed his cane in the ground, miraculously generating a tree: this still gives the area the name of Alberino, around which the first Sienese Franciscan community settled and where a church still stands today. In 1228, the year in which Saint Francis was canonized, the City of Siena expressed the desire to erect a church in his honour. In the meantime, in 1236, the Friars Minor moved from the original dwelling, which they considered too remote, to another within the city walls, which is generally believed to be the church of San Pietro a Ovile, already documented from the end of the twelfth  century. Not far from this building, the first Franciscan . . .