San Biagio Montepulciano

It stands isolated at the foot of the village of Montepulciano. The building, summa of the Renaissance studies of the Greek cross plan applied to Catholic worship constructions, was realized by Antonio Sangallo the Eldest, who used the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Prisons in Prato as a direct example to be emulated. The Cathedral had been planned a generation before by his brother Giuliano da Sangallo. The same plan, coming from some of Filippo Brunelleschi’s creations, was applied to the original plan by Bramante and Michelangelo for the Cathedral of Saint Peter and also for the Church of Saint Mary of Consolation in Todi, by uncertain author. The late Renaissance building was constructed on the place, where there once was an Early Christian parish, dedicated to Saint Mary . Successively, after the parish priest’s rights had been transferred, around the year one thousand, inside the castle walls, it was dedicated to Saint Biagio. During early 1500, only a few remains of the parish had survived. On a wall, there still was a fresco with Madonna and Child and Saint Francis, dated 1300, originally Sienese, and to which were attributed miraculous events. The people of Montepulciano decided to build a new church , commissioning Antonio da Sangallo, the Eldest. He planned an imposing building with a central plan. The ambitious project was supported by Pope Leo X, that had been educated by Agnolo Poliziano, native of the Tuscan town. The construction of the cathedral with a Greek cross plan, with travertine surfaces, continued until 1580. The works were directed, after the architect’s death, by other supervisors .The balanced volumes are articulated by harmonious scansions, as are the several decorative elements: pilasters, half columns, niches, spandrels, frames, oval windows; that create a real catalogue of Renaissance esthetics. The facade, with a repetitive pattern alternated by different decorative elements on the two lateral sides, is divided in two sections by a very evident entablature and by the frieze with triglyphs and metopes, that runs the entire temple perimeter. On the lower section is located the portal on which is engraved the founding date of the temple; on the upper section, with a central window, the facade acquires dynamic movement through five rectangular surfaces. A large triangular pediment with a circular eye in the center embellishes the upper section. The prospect is joined by a tall bell tower, that presents different sections , full of decorative stone elements, that ends in a pyramidal gable. The original plan included the construction of two symmetrical bell towers, but only one was completed.