Santa Maria dei Servi

Frommer's Review

Beyond some cypress and a small patch of green grass, this huge 13th-century church sits facadeless, with mute rough brick climbing up the front next to an enormous campanile. The second chapel on the right aisle houses the church's masterpiece, a late Byzantine-style Madonna del Bordone by Coppo di Marcovaldo, signed in 1261. The third chapel jumps ahead to the baroque with Rutilio Manetti's Birth of the Virgin, and the Renaissance is represented in the fifth chapel with Matteo di Giovanni's stupendous and frightening Massacre of the Innocents (1491). The right transept has another take on the subject in the second chapel to the right of the altar; this Massacre was probably frescoed by Francesco di Segna with the help of Niccoló di Segna and Pietro Lorenzetti. Across the transept are a painted Crucifix by Niccoló di Segna in the chapel and an Annunciatory Angel by Francesco Vanni (the Mary Annunciate half is in the left transept). The second chapel to the left of the high altar has frescoed scenes from the Life of St. John the Baptist, again by the di Segnas and Pietro Lorenzetti; Taddeo di Bartolo did the Nativity altarpiece in 1404.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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