Siena in the Renaissance:
The Last Century of the Republic (1450-1555)
An international conference held in Siena, 28-30 September 2003
This past September, the University of Warwick, AHRB Centre for the
Study of Renaissance Elites and Court Cultures and the Università degli
Studi di Siena, held a successful three day conference in Siena, entitled
‘Siena in the Renaissance: the last century of the republic’. The
conference was the result of many years of collaboration between the
two universities, and in particular the scholarly exchange between Prof.
Michael Mallett and Prof. Mario Ascheri. A longstanding interest in
Siena also characterises the work of two of the AHRB fellows, Dr
Christine Shaw and Dr Fabrizio Nevola, and it was upon the strength of
Sienese studies at Warwick that the conference project was developed.
Furthermore, in December 2002, the AHRB Centre for the Study of
Renaissance Elites was awarded a generous grant by the Fondazione
Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which funded the conference project over
two years. Additional logistical and financial support was provided in
Siena by the Centro Warburg Italia (director: Prof. Gioachino Chiarini),
the Università degli Studi di Siena, the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena
and the Accademia degli Intronati di Siena.
The conference opened on the morning of Sunday 28 September
in all but auspicious circumstances, for at 1:30 a.m. ‘il Black Out’ hit
across the electricity supplies of all Italy. Introductory addresses were
scheduled for 10 a.m. of what turned out to be an unseasonably dark
and overcast morning. Without any form of additional lighting,
speakers and public assembled in the penumbra of the beautifully
appointed Santa Chiara lecture theatre, near the church of Santa Maria
dei Servi in Siena. With the traditional delays of any Italian conference,
the organisers stalled for time, in the hope that a miracle might happen,
and the lights might come on. In the event, this did indeed happen,
well in advance of much of the rest of Italy, and the morning’s session
was able to begin, a little behind schedule, but with the full complement
of technology required!
The proceedings began with introductory remarks from the proRettore of Siene, Prof. Francioni and were followed by brief comments
from Prof. Mario Ascheri (Siena and Roma ‘Tor Vergata’) and Prof.
Julian Gardner (Warwick). All agreed that the event was an excellent
example of collaboration between universities, and looked forward to
continued contact between the two institutions. The first session
opened with a general paper from Riccardo Fubini (Florence) and Petra
Pertici (Siena) which assessed the historiography of late fifteenthcentury Siena. The rest of the session considered the changes that
followed on the return to Siena of the party of the Nove in 1487.
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Christine Shaw (Warwick), examined the role of the ‘Government by
Balìa’, which undercut the previous inclusive body of the Great Council,
and a similar set of issues were addressed by Riccardo Terziani (Siena).
Philippa Jackson (Warburg Institute), then discussed the emergence of
the cult of the Magdalen, and assessed the degree to which devotion to
the saint was politicised and associated with the new ruling group, while
Fabrizio Nevola (Warwick) discussed the residential strategies of the
ruling group, and revealed how the changing political situation resulted
in a reordering of housing choices in the city.
In the afternoon, attention turned to the relationship of Siena
and foreign powers, from the point of view of cultural history. Ingrid
Roward (American Academy, Rome), opened play with an entertaining
paper regarding the fabulously wealthy Sienese banker, Agostino Chigi,
and an incident regarding an elephant imported through Porto Ercole.
Didier Boisseuil (Avignon) then spoke of the diplomatic and therapeutic
functions of the thermal complexes in Sienese territories for the Medici
family. The next four papers addressed artistic subjects: Tom Henry
(Oxford Brooks) discussed the activity of Luca Signorelli in Siena, while
Francesco Benelli (Columbia) spoke of the military architecture of
Francesco di Giogio in the Marches and Romagna. Timothy Smith (De
Paul Univ., Chicago) then considered the influence of the Holy Land
and Jerusalem on the designs of the chapel of San Giovanni Battista in
the Duomo, while Paolo Torriti (Siena [AR]) discussed the interesting
question of the production of papier-maché in Siena’s painting
workshops.
The morning of Monday 29 September was dedicated to issues
related to humanist culture in fifteenth-century Siena. Gioachino
Chiarini (Siena), whose support and assistance was crucial to the success
of the conference, opened proceedings with a fascinating
interdisciplinary assessment of the image of Orpheus, which spanned a
period from Archaic Greece to a series of panels painted around 1500
in Siena. Chiarini’s talk was followed by an interesting account by
Marilena Caciorgna (Siena), of a series of images inspired by Ovid.
Following these image-based papers, Stefano Carrai (Siena) eloquently
examined the poetic production of Benedetto da Cingoli, within the
literary context of Siena in the second half of the fifteenth century.
Patrizia Turrini (Archivio di Stato, Siena), ended the morning with an
account of the animal imagery of the early contrade.
Following the conference lunch, held as on all three days within
the welcoming and comfortable surroundings of the University of
Siena’s Santa Chiara conference centre, a number of the conference
delegates took part in an outing to San Quirico’s d’Orcia and Pienza in
South Tuscany. The afternoon was fine and we were able to visit the
main sights in the two small towns, which also provided an ideal setting
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for more informal discussion. After an enjoyable dinner in the crypt of
the collegiate church of the tiny hilltop village of Montichiello, the party
returned to Siena.
The morning of 30 September was dedicated to issues of banking
and the market economy. The opening paper by Ivana Ait (Roma, ‘la
Sapienza’), examined the banking interests of Ambrogio Spannocchi in
Rome, while Doris Carl (Kunsthistorisches Institut), perfectly
complemented this with an analysis of the façade of the Palazzo
Spannocchi in Siena. The next two papers examined the activity of
Sienese bankers outside Siena: Isabel Falcon (Zaragoza), described the
activity of Tuscan bankers in Spain, while an excellent paper by Sergio
Tognetti (Cagliari), examined the activity of a number of firms with
branches in Naples and elsewhere in the Mediterranean. The final pair
of papers were more local in scope, with Roberta Mucciarelli (Siena),
discussing the economic activity of the Piccolomini, and Maurizio
Tuliani (Siena) examining the role of itinerant merchants in Siena.
The last session of the conference was entirely devoted to
matters pertaining to art and devotion. Gail Aronow (Columbia)
opened the afternoon with a paper on the Opera del Duomo during the
later ‘400. This was followed by two papers which touched on the
important church of San Bernardino dell’Osservanza. The first, by
Mauro Mussolin (Villa I Tatti), set the church and its design into the
wider context of Observant patronage in the second half of the
fifteenth century, while Trinita Kennedy (NYU) argued in favour of an
attribution to Francesco di Giergio Martini. Two papers which dealt
with aspects of the powerful institution of the hospital of Santa Maria
della Scala followed. Antonia Whitley (Warburg Institute) discussed
issues related to the piety and devotion of the patients, while Laura
Ponticelli and Elda Costa (Siena), provided short communications on
new research on the iconography of Domenico di Bartolo’s Pellegrinaio
frescoes. Gabriele Fattorini (Siena) closed with a paper on the survival
of fourteenth-century models in the paintings of the fifteenth century.
At the conclusion of these richly packed three days of papers,
closing remarks were offered by Mario Ascheri, Gioachino Chiarini and
Gabriella Piccinni, as well as the director of the Accademia degli
Intronati di Siena, Roberto Barzanti. It was generally agreed that the
conference had been a success, both for the interdisciplinary nature of
its content, and for the international group of speakers and audience
assembled. A commitment to meet again in September 2004 for the
second conference, which will deal with the half century leading up to
the end of Sienese independence in 1555, was repeated. Plans are
underway for publication of the acts of the conference, with the support
of the Centro Warburg Italia and the Academia degli Intronati di Siena.
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Dr Fabrizio Nevola, University of Warwick
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