Walking arround
Start your walk in Piazza Domenico Bargagli, the main piazza outside the walls,
go through the arch - Porta di Mezzo - opposite the church and turn left into Corso Garibaldi.
The first palazzo on the right is the 13th century palazzo dei Goti and is currently the head office of the local forestry commission; the Town Hall is on the opposite side of the road at no. 7, and at no. 9 is the local Information Office where you can find maps and pamphlets on Sarteano and the surrounding territory as well as information on anything else you may need to know. Across the road at no. 36 is the 15th century palazzo Sisti and next door the 14th century palazzo Berdini. On the left at no. 49 the 15th century palazzo Cospi Forneris, and just a little further on at no. 61, the 16th century palazzo Paperoni or Paparoni with the family coat of arms above the door. Local legend has it that a member of the family immigrated to the United States and worked for Disney and that it was his surname that inspired them to call Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge, Paperino and Paperon di Paperoni in the Italian version of the comic strip. Whether it is true or not we do not know but we like to think that it is. Next door is the chiesa del Suffragio (church of the prayer for the souls of the dead) and to the right Vicolo Baciadonne (Kiss the Ladies lane) probably so called because being extremely narrow, it is difficult for two people to cross paths without some form of physical contact! Just a little further on is piazza San Lorenzo which takes its name from the Collegiate Church of San Lorenzo.
to its excellent acoustics, the piazza is often used for small concerts. The church (1576) contains a 16th century painting of the Annunciation on two wooden panels by Girolamo del Pacchia.
Pacchia (1477-1533) was the son of a metalsmith who specialized in weapons. By 1502 he and
Pacchiarotti were Pinturicchio's assistants, decorating the ceiling of a library in Siena's cathedral.
Throughout his career, Pacchia absorbed the influences of many painters. Along with many other Sienese artists, he adopted Perugino's classicizing style around 1510, when Perugino was painting frescoes in a chapel there. In 1518 Pacchia was painting frescoes for a church, under Domenico Beccafumi's supervision. Those frescoes reveal a thicker, softer impasto, with softer, more velvety effects than his earlier, more hard-edged works. Pacchia's style changed little during the remaining years of his career.
To the left of the principal altar is the Cappella della Madonna del Buon Consiglio -Chapel of the Madonna of Good Counsel. Behind the altar is a carved wooden choir stall dated 1516 and the tomb of the Tedeschini Piccolomini family, the parents of Pope Pius III, a son of the sister of Pius II at whose request the town of Pienza was built. Other items of interest are, a marble tabernacle dated 1513 by Marrina; a mid 18th century wooden sculpture from a solid block showing Christ tied to a column and titled “ECCE HOMO” the Latin words used by Pontius Pilate when he presented a scourged Jesus Christ, bound and crowned with thorns, to a hostile crowd shortly before his Crucifixion; and a statue of San Rocco (Saint Roch) dated 1794 which is carried in procession during the historic pageant the “Giostra del Saracino” - Joust of the Saracen held every year on 15th August in the main piazza.
San Rocco is invoked by the Catholic faithful against the Bubonic Plague and other infectious diseases. Legend has it that, arriving in Italy during an epidemic of plague, he helped tend the sick in the public hospitals at Acquapendente, Cesena and Rome, and is said to have effected miraculous cures. At Rome he cured the cardinal of Angleria (the pope's brother) by making the mark of the cross on his forehead. He cured cattle using the same technique. At Piacenza he fell ill with the plague himself - the first signs of which were buboes appearing in the groin. He was expelled from the town; and withdrew into the forest, where he made himself a hut, which was supplied with water by a spring that miraculously appeared. He would have starved had not a dog belonging to a man named Gothard brought him bread every day. Gothard, following his hunting dog that carried the bread, discovered Saint Roch and became his follower. Thanks to this series of miracles Roch survived and recovered his health.
