SANTUARIO SANTA CATERINA DA SIENA
Sanctuary that includes several oratories, where you can admire a painting on wood by Bernadino Fungai in Siena.
This is the birthplace of Caterina Benincasa, a Sienese mystic born here in 1347 and proclaimed patron saint of Italy in 1939 by Pope Pius XII. In 1999, it was Pope John Paul II who proclaimed her patron saint of Europe. The relics of the saint are in Rome, in the basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, and her head in Siena, in the basilica of San Domenico.
Transformed into a sanctuary in 1464, this house preserves testimonies relating to the life of Saint Catherine. The complex is structured around several spaces: once the portico of the Communes has been crossed, we arrive in a 16th century courtyard, followed by a second courtyard. Through an atrium in the loggia, one can access the church (chiesa del Crocifisso), with a Latin cross plan, which preserves the miraculous crucifix in front of which the saint would have received the stigmata.
In addition to this church, the sanctuary of St. Catherine of Siena also includes several oratories, including the superior (called oratorio della Cucina), with a 17th century ceramic floor, where one can admire a painting on wood by Bernardino Fungai. The lower oratory, known as the oratorio della Tintoria, was the laboratory of the father dyer of Saint Catherine of Siena, transformed into a church between 1465 and 1474, and which preserves a polychrome wooden statue of the saint, attributed to Neroccio di Landi.
Every year, on April 29th, on the occasion of Saint Catherine's Day, the sanctuary comes to life and welcomes thousands of pilgrims.
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