Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Room 8); Pietro Lorenzetti's
Madonna Enthroned with Saint Nicholas and the Prophet
Elia
and
Crucifixion
(both in Room 8); and Taddeo di Bartolo's
The Annunciation of the
Virgin Mary
(Room 11).
Note that the gallery occasionally rearranges its exhibits; we have cited the room num-
bers that applied when we last visited.
Chiesa di San Domenico
(Piazza San Domenico; 9am-12.30pm & 3-7pm)
St Catherine was welcomed into the Domin-
ican fold within this imposing church, and its
Cappella di Santa Caterina
is adorned with
frescoes by Il Sodoma depicting events in her life. Catherine died in Rome, where most of
her body is preserved, but her head was returned to Siena (it's in a 15th-century tabernacle
above the altar in the chapel).
Also here are her desiccated thumb (in a small window box to the right of the chapel)
and a nasty-looking chain that the saint is said to have flagellated herself with.
CHURCH
Casa Santuario di Santa Caterina
MAP
RELIGIOUS
GOOGLE MAP
(Costa di Sant'Antonio 6; 9am-6.30pm Mar-Nov, 10am-6pm Dec-Feb)
If you want more of
Santa Caterina - figuratively speaking - visit this pilgrimage sight where the saint, her
parents and 24 siblings lived (locals like to joke that her mother must have been a saint,
too). The rooms in the house were converted into small chapels in the 15th century.
The lower-level bedroom, frescoed in 1893 by Alessandro Franchi, includes her un-
touched, nearly bare cell. The largest of the chapels is minded by nuns, and is closed dur-
ing their lunchtime (12.30pm to 3pm).
Oratorio di San Bernardino
MAP
ART GALLERY
GOOGLE MAP
(
www.operaduomo.siena.it
;
Piazza San Francesco 9; adult/reduced €3/2.50; 10.30am-7pm Mar-Oct)
Nestled in the shadow of the huge Gothic church of San Francesco is this 15th-century
oratory, which is dedicated to St Bernardino and decorated with Mannerist frescoes by Il
Sodoma, Beccafumi and Pacchia. Upstairs, the small
Museo Diocesano di Arte Sacra
has
some lovely paintings, including a
Madonna del Latte
(Nursing Madonna, c 1340) by
Ambrogio Lorenzetti.
