MONTEPULCIANO
toscana
HISTORICAL CENTRE
Getting to Montepulciano after having gone round the top of the hill along the beautiful street planted with trees and after Poggiofanti Gardens, there is in an open field the Church of St. Agnes, the Patron Saint of Montepulciano, dead in 1317. On its modern facade (1926) there is a Gothic portal. Inside, the church was adjusted in the XVIII century; the unique nave was rearranged mostly in the XVII century. Many works date back to this period among which the monument where St. Agnese's body rests.
Following the avenue, you reach "Porta al Prato" from where starts "Via Roma". You get to a little square where on a coloumn stands "Marzocco", the symbol of Florence's authority which took the place of "She-Wolf" of Siena in 1511. The lion is by the sculptor Sarrocchi (1856). In front of the coloumn there is Palazzo Avignonesi which is attributed to Vignola and dates back to the XVI century. Its structure is in a clear late-Renaissance style. Close to the building you can admire the Baroque Church of St. Bernard, wanted by the Jesuit Father Andrea Pozzo. In front of Palazzo Avignonesi there is the late-Renaissance Palazzo Tarugi. Its lower level is characterized by ashlar-work. Also this building is attributed to Vignola. Other Renaissance palaces bord Via Roma: Palazzo Cocconi-Del Pecora, designed by Antonio da Sangallo, Palazzo Buccelli which presents at its basis frontages of Etruscan cinerary urns and tablets with Etruscan and Latin inscriptions.
You get to the Church of St. Augustine, one of the most beautiful and interesting buildings in Montepulciano. Its facade was designed by Michelozzo Michelozzi (1396-1472) in the first dacade of the XV century. As Brunelleschi's disciple and collaborator, as for architecture, and Donatello's disciple, as for sculpture, the artist used simple and elegant Renaissance forms in the lower level. The portal is sideways splayed and presents a lunette placed in the upper level. On its top an irregular tympanum stands between two thin and pointed towers like a flame. They present Gothic features which accour in the Gothic niches of the upper level. Perhaps the remaing part of the facade was completed by another architect who adapted Renaissance forms. The inside was rearranged in the XVIII century and the original design was transformed. Inside, you can admire works by Barocci, Allori, Lorenzo di Credi. On the high altar there is a wooden crucifix attributed to Donatello. In front of the church you find the characteristic Pulcinella (XVI century) which strike hours on the bell. Going downwards, on the left, you reach Palazzo Cappelli with frescoes by F. Zuccari at the entrance. Take the steep street and you arrive in front of a large threefold arcade of Loggia del Mercato, attributed to Scalza. Going downwards, in Via Cavour, you get Palazzo Cervini designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Old; Palazzo Cagnoni attributed to Vignola; the Seminary Palace close to which there is the Church of Jesus Christ designed by Andrea Pozzo in the XVII century. The facade is unfinished; the inside is beautiful and elegant. Getting to Via del Poliziano, on the left at No. 1 you find Agnolo Poliziano's house. After a few metres, you get to the Church of Our Lady of Servants, built in the XVI century. It presents a beautiful pointed portal and, on its roof, Gothic hanging arches; the Baroque inside was designed by Andrea Pozzo.
On the right of the church take the street which goes around the Fortress and comes out in Piazza Grande. It is the ideal and monumental centre of Montepulciano. It is one of the most beautiful squares of the minor towns which keep in silence recollections of past magnificence and high civilization.
The square is borded by important buildings: the Cathedral with its unfinished facade; on the left the unfinished Bell Tower dating back to the second half of the XV century. Where today stands the Cathedral, there was the ancient parish church which had to be considered as inadequate and bare when beautiful buildings were built in Piazza Grande and the near streets. In 1583 the ancient sacristy began being pulled down and, after many debates, Bartolomeo Ammannati was asked to give a new design which was ready in 1588. However, some years passed before works began, meanwhile Ammannati died. In 1593 Ippolito Scalza, a sculptor and architect of Orvieto, was called. He adjusted the design and most probably completely rearranged the plan. In 1594 works began and in 1680 when works were over, the church was consacrated. However, the facade was never finished. The inside presents three aisles divided by arches resting on pillars. Simple structures have a large rhythm without decorations. On the sides there are chapels. On the high altar you can admire the monumental polyptych by Taddeo di Bartolo (1410), a painter of Siena who was born in 1362 and died in 1422. In Padua he was in touch with Altichiero, a Giotto's disciple, and he was influenced also by other painters from the Northern Italy, such as Giovanni of Milan and Barnaba of Modena. It is one of his richest and most famous work and, at large, very beautiful. It represents at its centre Our Lady's Assumption among Saints piously gathered around Her; on the top and at the centre the Coronation; laterally the Annunciation and on the pillars many figures of Saints. At the sides of the high altar stand two statues being of the Aragazzi Monument which represent Fortitude and Justice or Science and Faith. On the right of the high altar, leaning on a pillar, there is St. Bartolomew blessing. According to the ideal reconstruction of the Aragazzi Monument, the Saint ought to have been on the tomb to turn to the dead. A design of the facade of the Cathedral and the reconstruction of the Aragazzi Monument, designed by Emanuele Marcucci, are kept in the Sacristy.
The Town Hall, with its beautiful mid tower dates back to the XVI century, recalls, at large, Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. It is a simple building with Guelph merlons and solid corbels. In the lower part the ashlar-work is irregular and rough, as if it camouflaged the opening of rectangular windows which are present in the upper level in a regular rhythm. From the tower you can admire a beautiful large panorama mostly during clear and bright days. In front of the Town Hall there is Palazzo del Monte - Contucci. In 1519 Antonio da Sangallo the Old began works wanted by the Cardinal of Santa Prossede, Antonio Ciocchi Del Monte, who was Pope under the name of Julius III. The Cardinal get many buildings pulled down to make room for the palace defined by Vasari as "well refined and worked with great elegance".
In front of the Cathedral you can admire the austere Palazzo Nobili-Tarugi attributed to Antonio da Sangallo the Old. The porch, which today is blind, followed the rhythm of coloumns in the lower level. Windows rest on small corbels and support a curved gable, the noble portal is decorated by round arches.
The Well in Piazza Grande supports two lions which keep the Medicis' coat-of-arms. It is like the coat-of-arm in the Rectory of St. Blaise. As a result, it is attributed to Sangallo. Close to it, inward Poice-Court Building presents its XIV Century side in Via Ricci. It was dwelled by the capitain of the population. When you get to Via Ricci, you find on the left a building attributed to Baldassarre Peruzzi (XVI century), Palazzo Ricci. Its facade underlines the elegant rhythm of the surface by a cornice gathering windows and recourring on the upper level at the basis of the mezzanine. Going downwards, on the left, there is the Chapel of St. Antony, called as "of the Knights of St. Stephen". Down the street, there is Palazzo Benincasa with the bust of Gian Gastone dei Medici in the portal. A large square opens out into a panorama of the country. The Church of St. Francis, in the past dedicated to St. Margaret, presents on its right facade the remains of a pulpit from where St. Bernardine is said to preach. The portal is in Gothic style.
After having visited the town, you get to Church of Madonna di San Biagio by Antonio di Francesco Giamberti, called as Antonio da Sangallo the Old. It was consacrated by Pope Clement VII in 1529. It rises in open country. It was built on the remains of the ancient parish church of St. Blaise where, according to the tradition, the painting of Our Lady was seen moving her eyes. It presents a Greek-cross plan surmonted by a dome and with four equal wings. In the south wing there is a semicircular sacristy, whereas at both sides of the northern wing there are two bell towers, one of which is unfinished. All the wings present a Doric lower level with metopes and triglyphs as a seal. The upper level has an architrave and is surmonted by a tympanum. Simple decorations adorn classical portals and windows. The dome stands on a tambour divided by Ionic pilaster strips alternated with niches. It ends with a thin and elegant lantern. Inside, there are any ornaments but the rhythm of large arches and classical oranmental elements, such as tympanums, metopes, triglyphs and niches with their altars in superb harmony ending with a slim dome lighted up by the lantern. The big high altar is by Albertini (1584). Frescoes representing the Transit, the Assumptionand, the Coronation of Our Lady are attributed to Zuccari (XVI century). In front of the church there is the Plebiscite or the Rectory of St. Blaise. The beautiful well with its curved line is like to the well in Piazza Grande.
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