San Quirico d'Orcia
Encyclopedia
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
(municipality)of c. 2,500 inhabitants in the Province of Siena
Province of Siena
The Province of Siena is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Siena.It has an area of 3,821 km² , and a total population of 252,288 . There are 36 comuni in the province...
in the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
region Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, located about 80 km southeast of Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
and about 35 km southeast of Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
inside the Valdorcia
Valdorcia
The Val d’Orcia, or Valdorcia, is a region of Tuscany, central Italy, which extends from the hills south of Siena to Monte Amiata. It is characterised by gentle, carefully cultivated hills occasionally broken by gullies and by picturesque towns and villages such as Pienza , Radicofani The Val...
landscape. It is named in honor of Saint Quiricus.
San Quirico d'Orcia borders the following municipalities: Castiglione d'Orcia
Castiglione d'Orcia
Castiglione d'Orcia is a comune in the Province of Siena in the Italian region of Tuscany, located about 90 km southeast of Florence and about 40 km southeast of Siena, in the Val d'Orcia, not far from the Via Cassia....
, Montalcino
Montalcino
Montalcino is a hilltown and comune in Tuscany, Italy. It is famous for its Brunello di Montalcino wine.The town is located to the west of Pienza, close to the Crete Senesi in Val d'Orcia. It is 42 km from Siena, 110 km from Florence and 150 km from Pisa...
, Pienza
Pienza
Pienza, a town and comune in the province of Siena, in the Val d'Orcia in Tuscany , between the towns of Montepulciano and Montalcino, is the "touchstone of Renaissance urbanism."...
, San Giovanni d'Asso
San Giovanni d'Asso
San Giovanni d'Asso is a comune in the Province of Siena in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 80 km southeast of Florence and about 30 km southeast of Siena in the area known as the Crete Senesi....
.
It is located on the Via Francigena
Via Francigena
The Via Francigena is an ancient road between Rome and Canterbury, passing through England, France, Switzerland and Italy. In mediaeval times it was an important road and pilgrimage route...
.
Main sights
The frazioneFrazione
A frazione , in Italy, is the name given in administrative law to a type of territorial subdivision of a comune; for other administrative divisions, see municipio, circoscrizione, quartiere...
of Vignoni houses a castle, a residence of the Salimbeni
Salimbeni
Brothers Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni, medieval painters representative of International Gothic style.-Biography:...
in the 12th century. It includes a top-less tower and a Romanesque church, once housing a crufix by Giambologna
Giambologna
Giambologna, born as Jean Boulogne, incorrectly known as Giovanni da Bologna and Giovanni Bologna , was a sculptor, known for his marble and bronze statuary in a late Renaissance or Mannerist style.- Biography :...
, now in the Museum of Montalcino
Montalcino
Montalcino is a hilltown and comune in Tuscany, Italy. It is famous for its Brunello di Montalcino wine.The town is located to the west of Pienza, close to the Crete Senesi in Val d'Orcia. It is 42 km from Siena, 110 km from Florence and 150 km from Pisa...
. Annexed is also the (rebuilt) 15th century Palazzo degli Amerighi, where a plot was set against the Spanish who menaced Siena
Republic of Siena
The Republic of Siena , was a state originating from the city of Siena in Tuscany, Central Italy.It existed for over four hundreds years, from the late 11th century until the year 1555, when was defeated by the rival Duchy of Florence in alliance with the Spanish crown...
in 1558-1559.
San Quirico is home to the following churches:
- Collegiate church of San Quirico. Once a rural pievePieveIn the Middle Ages, a pieve was a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended.The Italian word pieve is descended from Latin plebs which, after the expansion of Christianity in Italy, was applied to the community of baptized people...
(pleban church) from the 8th century, with a baptismal font, it was rebuilt into the current structure in the 12th century. The rear section was altered in 1663 to add the choir. It is on the Latin cross plan, with a single nave and side chapels. Notable is the main portal, in Lombard style, consisting in a decorated protiro in sandstoneSandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, with columns supported by lions. The arch includes ten columns, whose capitals are decorated with animals and vegetable figures, while the architraveArchitraveAn architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. It is an architectural element in Classical architecture.-Classical architecture:...
features two crocodiles facing each other. The lunette has a high-relief sculpture allegedly portraying St. Damasus, though likely to be identified with St. Quiricus. A side portal, added in the 13th century, has been attributed to Giovanni PisanoGiovanni PisanoGiovanni Pisano was an Italian sculptor, painter and architect. Son of the famous sculptor Nicola Pisano, he received his training in the workshop of his father....
, who was in Siena at the time. Most of the interior decoration date to the 17th century, while the bell tower was rebuilt in 1798-1806. - Romanesque church of San Biagio a Vignoni
- Church of Santa Maria Assunta (late 11th century)
- Church of San Giovanni Battista, at Bagno Vignoni
- Church of Madonna di Vitaleta, housing a "Madonna" attributed to Andrea della RobbiaAndrea della RobbiaAndrea della Robbia was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, especially in ceramics. He was the son of Marco della Robbia. Andrea della Robbia's uncle, Luca della Robbia, popularized the use of glazed terra-cotta for sculpture...
- Horti Leonini (1561), an example of Italian garden
External links
- www.comunesanquirico.it/
- Brief history, description and pictures of San Quirico
- Collegiate Church of Saints Quirico and Giulitta, San Quirico d'Orcia
- description, history and pictures of San Quirico