Church of San Niccolò al Carmine

Building the Church

The Carmelites abandoned their initial eremitic life when Pope Innocent IV, in reviewing the Rule of the Order, instructed the construction of churches and convents near towns.
The friars who arrived in Siena in the mid-thirteenth century settled in a rural area just outside the city walls and began to build their church. It later became part of the modern city, and also gave the name to the road where it is located, the Piano dei Mantellini: the legend goes that a painting of the Blessed Virgin, now missing, embellished the church's façade. After some graces bestowed on children, little skirts or mantellini were hung under the painting in sign of devotion.

In 1261, during its construction, the friars asked and obtained from Pope Urban IV the permission to bury in their church even people that did not belong to the Order, a privilege that the devout reciprocated with many offerings, used by the friars to support the construction expenses.

Following the Church’s will, they fully integrated into the city’s social fabric, committing themselves to the education of the faithful, assisting them in prayer and helping them to live peacefully under the aegis of the Gospel.
Because of their role as “social assistants” and spiritual mentors, the Carmelites received recognition by the municipality of Siena, who actively took part in the construction and constant maintenance of both the church and the convent, as well as enacting laws and granting subsidies.
Even private citizens left gifts in their wills to the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala, so as to provide alms indefinitely to the benefit of the Carmelites.

In 1432 the Guild of Wool, the corporation of artisan wool manufacturers, chose to link its association to this church and hold its celebrations here. Over the years the guild embellished and renovated it on several occasions, converging its efforts mainly on the apse, that it had chosen as its private chapel; the existing high altar, made in imitation of the one in the Cathedral, was commissioned by the very same Guild. In 1425 even the Guild of Curriers and Tanners built its own chapel in the church, dedicating it to Saint Bartholomew the Apostle, its Patron Saint.
The bond with the citizens is confirmed by the numerous works of art that originally adorned the same amount of altars built by Sienese noble families from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, as evidenced by the copious Coats of Arms inside the church.
After the works of restoration carried out in the early twentieth century, though without all the embellishments that had built up over the years, the building is currently open for worship, although it is no longer officiated by the Carmelites.

The blessing of the horse belonging to the Contrada della Pantera, whose flags are placed along the walls of the church, takes place here on the day of the Palio.
Following the last suppression of religious orders, the priory was converted to a military barracks until 1960, the year in which the University of Siena moved in. The area surrounding the lesser cloister, still property of the Order, has recently been converted to a holiday home.