We do not know exactly when the Carmelites arrived in Siena after leaving the Holy Land, but it was probably in the mid-1200s. With the help of the City, of the guilds and of wealthy citizens, they erected their church and the adjoining monastery where the friars, who consecrated their lives to penance and prayer, welcomed all those who wanted to join them in worshiping God and the Blessed Virgin Mother. Through the evangelization of the population living in this area, just outside the city walls, the Carmelites gained the respect and the official recognition by the municipality, who deemed it a religious institution entitled to support. Many illustrious citizens of Siena joined the Carmelite Order, living for years in penance and prayer as the Blessed Franco da Grotti, whose reputation soon spread beyond the city’s borders from the thirteenth century . In the sixteenth century four members of Sienese noble families succeeded each other as Generals of the Order: Bernardino Landucci, Eliodoro Tolomei, Mario Venturini and Giovanni Battista Faleri Caffardi, whose busts in plaster can be admired along the church walls .

The poor and pious friars of the Carmelite Order sustained themselves through private donations, the constant support of the City, alms, the sale of indulgences, masses in suffrage of the souls of deceased patrons and the offerings to the relics held in the . . .