Friday, May 12 – A quick stop at the church of San Biagio
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| Il Tempio di San Biagio |
The Tempio di San Biagio is one of the most eye catching sites in the drive between Montepulciano and Pienza. It's located just outside the city, on the road to Pienza and it's beautiful whitish golden stone glows in the sunlight. We decided to stop to visit the church as we were just outside of the city walls, heading toward Pienza. The church
was built to commemorate miraculous activities that were associated with a
fresco of the Madonna and child and St. Francis, which were part of a much
older church that had previously inhabited the site.
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View of the front facade - note only one bell tower was completed; the one on the right is still waiting
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| The rectory of San Biagio and its well |
The
church was completed in the mid 1500’s and is based on a plan of the Greek cross, with similar architectural style to St. Peter’s in Rome as well as churches in Prato and
Todi designed all at a similar time.
The emphasis is on circular and square forms – based on the proportions of Leonardo da
Vinci’s Vitruvian man – according to the audioguide, this was
thought to be the ideal proportions for the architectural schools at the
time. Two free standing bell
towers were intended for the front facing façade, but only one was built,
perhaps due to instability of the soil (again, from the guide). The acoustics of the dome are
interesting – if you stand directly underneath and clap your hands, you can
hear it echo back about 20 times – but no one else can hear the echos. I tried it -- and it worked as predicted. Try it when you visit there.
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| Acoustics directly under the dome allow you to hear a single clap echo 20 times |
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| Interior, like the exterior, is styled in high Italianate Rennaissance |
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| Squares, triangles and circles predominate in the design |
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| Michael - caught doing email on his phone, while waiting for me to finish stalking for interesting photos |
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