San Biagio, Montepulciano, Italy

Madonna di San Biagio. Photo: Josep Renalias/Wikimedia Commons

San Biagio is a church outside Montepulciano, Tuscany, central Italy. The church, which was built between 1518 and 1739, an example of Renaissance Greek cross central plan, was designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, who was inspired by the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Carceri in Prato, which had been designed years before by his brother Giuliano da Sangallo.

The same plan, taken from Filippo Brunelleschi's works, was used for the original design by Bramante and Michelangelo for St. Peter's Basilica, as well as for the church of Santa Maria della Consolazione in Todi, of uncertain paternity.

The late Renaissance building was constructed on the site of a pre-existing Palaeochristian pieve dedicated to St. Mary and subsequently to St. Blaise. In the early 16th century only remains existed of the pieve, including a wall with a fresco of Madonna with Child and St. Francis, from a 14th-century Sienese painter. The project was supported by Pope Leo X, who had studied under Angelo Poliziano, a native of Montepulciano.

Madonna di San Biagio - interior. Photo: Josep Renalias/Wikimedia Commons

The church is a Greek cross plan, with a central dome supported by a drum. The side opposite to the entrance has a semi-circular apse.

The main façade, whose scheme is repeated (with some minor changes) on the two side ones, is divided into two sectors by a large entablature featuring a frieze with triglyphs and metopes which runs for the whole perimeter of the edifice.

The lower sector houses the portal, on which is the foundation date. Above it is a window, in turn surmounted by a triangular pediment with, in the middle, a circular oculus. All the exterior is formed by travertine slabs.

The façade is flanked by the multifloor bell tower, with numerous decorative elements, which ends in a pyramidal cusp. The design included two symmetrical towers, but only one was built.

Source

• www.wikipedia.org

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Basilica di Sant'Andrea, Vercelli, Italy

The Basilica di Sant'Andrea is the church of a monastery in Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy, founded in 1219 by Cardinal Guala Bicchieri and completed in 1227.

Fort Bard (Forte di Bard), Italy

Fort Bard (Forte di Bard), is a fortified complex built in the 19th century by the House of Savoy on a rocky prominence above Bard, a town and comune in the Aosta Valley region of northwestern Italy.

Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy

The Basilica of San Vitale is a church in Ravenna, Italy, and one of the most important surviving examples of early Christian Byzantine art and architecture in Europe.

Uffizi Gallery (Galleria degli Uffizi), Florence, Italy

The Uffizi Gallery (Galleria degli Uffizi) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy.

Reggio Emilia Cathedral (Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta), Italy

Reggio Emilia Cathedral (Duomo di Reggio Emilia; Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta) is a Roman Catholic cathedral (and one of the three main religious buildings) in Reggio Emilia (Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy).

Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy

Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated opposite, and lending its name to, the city's main railway station. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church.