The origins of the Conservatori Riuniti di Siena date back to 1580, when, near Porta Romana in Via Fieravecchia, the Sienese Domenico Billò founded the Congregazione delle Povere Abbandonate to provide shelter for young women in need. Aurelio Chigi, who assumed the role of Camerlengo after Billò’s death, further strengthened the institution by acquiring the adjacent Palazzo di San Galgano.
In 1601, construction began on the Church of San Raimondo al Refugio, an exquisite example of 17th-century Sienese art. The church preserves important works by Alessandro Casolani, Ventura Salimbeni, Francesco Vanni, Sebastiano Folli, and Rutilio Manetti. Around the same time, the Congregazione delle Vergini del Soccorso was founded to welcome young women from noble but impoverished families.
In 1785, Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany transformed the Congregation into the Conservatorio di San Raimondo al Refugio, an educational institution for young noblewomen, also hosting residents from many dissolved convents and congregations. During the first half of the 20th century, in collaboration with the Municipality of Siena, the Conservatori became the seat of the Istituto Magistrale.
Its collections of paintings, sculptures, goldsmithing, liturgical vestments, and a valuable documentary archive recount the rich and complex history of the Conservatori through the centuries.
Today, the Fondazione Conservatori Riuniti di Siena continues its mission by welcoming researchers and scholars, while preserving and enhancing its historical and artistic heritage.
Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine, Francesco Vanni (early 17th century):
the painting is located on the right altar of the Church of San Raimondo al Refugio. With this richly articulated composition, Vanni celebrates one of the most spiritually profound visions of the Sienese saint.
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Jacopo della Quercia (1414–1419): this sculpture is an extraordinary example of late Gothic style, characterized by the hanchement of the right hip, the gilded hair, and the elaborate garment.
Assumption of the Virgin, Domenico di Bartolo (c. 1430–1435): is part of the earliest core of works preserved in the former sacristy of the Church of San Raimondo, now used as a museum space. It is a remarkable example of the artist from Asciano’s refined taste for decorative detail. The panel is unique for its reference to another Assumption, painted by Simone Martini for the Antiporto di Camollia and now lost.
Fondazione Conservatori Riuniti
via del Refugio, 1-19
53100 – Siena
Tel: +39 0577 236363
email: cfrsiena@gmail.com
www.fondazioneconservatoririunitisiena.it
OPENING HOURS
Wednesday and Friday: 9.30 am – 1 pm
Tuesday and Thursday: 2 pm – 6 pm
TICKETS
Admission to the site is free of charge
“In the fiery and concentrated beauty of Siena there is an artificial note that recalls a city perched atop a hill in an old painting. From the fortifications one views the entire city, the white and brown houses, with brown-hued roofs and smooth façades pierced by multiple windows. […] All around reigns the peace of a green world, now sloping down into valleys strewn with red earth and veiled by the gray mist of the olive trees, with cypresses reaching darkly into the sky, now rising into hills”. (A. Symons, 1907)
In Siena, the flavor, the taste, the view of the city are still the same as those evoked by the words of the English poet who visited and certainly fell in love with the place more than a century ago. Siena sits composedly, perched on its hills. Move away just a little, and you can take it in all at once, the unmistakable skyline of its elongated silhouette, its walls, the Torre del Mangia and the dome of the Cathedral. And it is not even so different, in certain glimpses, from the way its most beloved painters depicted it in the 1300s and 1400s, from Lorenzetti to Simone Martini, from Sano di Pietro to Vecchietta.
The city’s sensual and harmonious relationship with the landscape that surrounds and protects it is also fundamentally unchanged. The hills, cypresses, red earth and olive trees can be reached on foot by walking out through the ancient gates, or else still inside the city, in the protected and precious green valleys that have remained within the walls.
With its slow, almost dreamlike way of life, Siena should be visited calmly, for it needs to be savoured unhurriedly. Stroll through Siena and let yourself be guided by curiosity. Slip into the alleys, look for quiet hidden places, explore a museum, a church or a beautiful palazzo.