The Basilica of San Clemente in Santa Maria dei Servi is a small medieval jewel that is less than ten minutes walk from the main square of the city. It has a Gothic style facade and a Renaissance nave, and is located in a very quiet area. The Basilica dei Servi, particularly dear to the Sienese, was for centuries the city’s second Marian shrine until 1611, when the new Collegiate Church of S. Maria in Provenzano was built. On the outside, the building is devoid of all decoration, thus meeting the new mendicant orders’ need for simplicity of message and form. The church, with an Egyptian plan, contains inside works of great value, both artistic and spiritual, dedicated for the most part to the Virgin Mary; the most significant are the Madonna del Bordone by Coppo di Marcovaldo, The Coronation of the Virgin by Bernardino Fungai and the Madonna della Misericordia by Giovanni di Paolo. The Order of the Servants of Mary, also known simply as the Servites, was founded by seven Florentine saints who, after leaving their possessions and their families, retired to Monte Senario, far from Florence, to devote themselves entirely to prayer and penance. Their example was contagious, so much so that the model of life of the Servants of Mary began to spread, arriving even in Siena in 1250.
