San Raimondo, also calledSan Raimondo al Refugio, is aBaroque style,Roman Catholic church located on the intersection of Via del Refugio and Via di Fiera Vecchia, in the Terzo of Camollia of the city ofSiena, region ofTuscany,Italy. The church is dedicated to StRaymond of Pennafort.
The church was commissioned in 1596 in the will of the Sienese nobleAurelio Chigi. The church was adjacent to a conservatory for children of impoverished nobility (nobili decaduto) and thus known asdi Refugio.[1] In 1798, an earthquake caused some damage.[2] During the 19th-century it served as a school for young women, called the Royal Conservatorio Riuniti, because it was joined to the adjacent Conservatory of Mary Magdalen.
In 1660,Pope Alexander VII (a Chigi) commissioned fromBenedetto Giovannelli the design and construction of a new white marble façade. The church facade has the correct superimposition oforders in the pilaster capitals: with doric, ionic, and finally corinthian. The lateral to the volutes on the third story is the star-topped six mountains found in the heraldic coat of arms of theChigi. Thetympanum has the papal coat of arms with the crossed keys, and a shield with the Chigi heraldry: two oaks and the afore-mentioned six-mountain symbols.
The baroque interior decoration was completed by 1610 byFrancesco Della Monna. The marble altars were designed byFlaminio Del Turco; with bronze bas reliefs and the sepulchral monument of Aurelio Chigi were completed byAscanio da Cortona. The main altarpiece of theNativity was painted byAlessandro Casolani, but completed in 1606 byFrancesco Vanni. Flanking this is anAdoration of the Magi byAstolfo Petrazzi. The lateral altarpieces are theCircumcision of Jesus byGiovanni Battista Giustammiani, theMiracle of Resurrection by San Raimondo byFrancesco Rustici. An altar on the right has aMarriage of St Catherine (1601) byVanni; the side canvases also depicting events in the life ofCatherine of Siena are bySebastiano Folli. On the left is an altar with aDeath ofSan Galgano, a collaboration of Salimbeni and Vanni. It is flanked by aSt Michael Archangel appears before San Galgano andParents of San Galgano attempt to dissuade him from life as a hermit (both 1613) byRutilio Manetti. AMiracle of St Raymond walks on water is attributed toStefano Volpe.[3]
The church in 2014 was adjacent to the offices of the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of theUniversity of Siena. A few steps down the Via di Fiera Vecchia is the Palazzo San Galgano, in 2014, housing the Architecture faculty of the University. The facade of thePalazzo Galgano on Via Roma was designed (1474) byGiuliano Da Maiano.[4]
43°19′00″N11°20′21″E / 43.31667°N 11.33917°E /43.31667; 11.33917
