Discover San Biagio, Montepulciano

San Biagio is a church outside Montepulciano, and an example of the Renaissance Greek cross central plan.

It was designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, who was inspired by the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Carceri in Prato, designed years earlier by his brother Giuliano da Sangallo. The same plan, taken from Filippo Brunelleschi's work, was used for the original designs by Bramante and Michelangelo for St Peter's Basilica, and for Santa Maria della Consolazione in Todi, whose authorship is uncertain.

Building began in 1518. The sources differ on when the main fabric was finished — one gives 1540, another 1545 — and construction lasted until 1580, directed after Sangallo's death by other superintendents.

It stands on the site of a pre-existing Palaeochristian pieve dedicated to St Mary and later to St Blaise. By the early 16th century only remains of that pieve survived, among them a wall carrying a fresco of the Madonna with Child and St Francis by a 14th-century Sienese painter. The project was supported by Pope Leo X, who had studied under Angelo Poliziano, a native of Montepulciano.

The church is entirely faced in travertine slabs, and its design called for two symmetrical bell towers — but only one was built.

This building exists to demonstrate an idea, and the idea has a traceable family tree.

The lineage

The Greek-cross central plan — equal arms under a dome — was taken from the work of Filippo Brunelleschi. Giuliano da Sangallo built it at Santa Maria delle Carceri in Prato; his brother Antonio da Sangallo the Elder was inspired by that church when he designed this one. The same plan was used for the original designs by Bramante and Michelangelo for St Peter's Basilica, and for Santa Maria della Consolazione in Todi, whose authorship is uncertain.

So San Biagio is not a provincial curiosity. It is one of the small number of surviving executions of the plan that the two most famous architects of the age proposed for the most important church in Christendom.

Why the setting is the architecture

A centrally planned church is designed to be comprehended as a single object from any direction. That requires space, and in cities there was none — which is why the idea was mostly theoretical. Here the building stands outside the town in open ground, and the design can do what it was meant to do.

The elevations confirm the intent: the main façade's scheme is repeated, with minor changes, on the two side façades. There is no hierarchy of fronts.

The order

Each face divides into two sectors at a large entablature whose frieze of triglyphs and metopes runs the whole perimeter — a Doric device used to unify a cruciform volume. The lower sector holds the portal, carrying the foundation date. Above: a window, a triangular pediment, and a circular oculus at the pediment's centre.

Over the crossing the dome rises on a drum; the arm opposite the entrance ends in a semi-circular apse. The whole exterior is travertine slabs.

The missing tower

The design provided two symmetrical bell towers flanking the façade. Only one was built — multi-floored, with numerous decorative elements, ending in a pyramidal cusp.

It is worth being clear about what this costs the building. A one-towered front on a symmetrical church contradicts the plan's central argument, and the longer construction ran — to 1580, under superintendents who were no longer Sangallo — the less likely the second tower became. The most perfectly conceived building in the batch is also the most visibly unfinished.

Sixty-two years of construction on a design meant to express perfect order, and the fabric records every compromise.

What was on the site

A Palaeochristian pieve, dedicated to St Mary and later to St Blaise, whose plebanial rights acquired around the year 1000 made it the mother church of the area. By the early 16th century only remains survived — including a wall with a 14th-century Sienese fresco of the Madonna with Child and St Francis.

That lineage is worth holding onto: the rights of this ruined church passed to the pieve of Santa Maria up in the town, and from there to Montepulciano's cathedral. The town's religious authority originates on this spot, down in the fields.

Begun 1518, with papal backing

Work started in 1518 to Antonio da Sangallo the Elder's design, supported by Pope Leo X — whose interest ran through Angelo Poliziano, the Montepulciano humanist under whom he had studied. Papal patronage is the reason a town of this size got a building of this ambition.

The main fabric: 1540 or 1545

Here the record forks. The article on the church says it was built between 1518 and 1540; the article on the town says 1518 and 1545. Both are Wikipedia, and they cannot both be right. This page gives the start date, which they agree on, and declines to choose between the two finishes.

Construction to 1580, under other hands

Whatever year the main building was done, construction lasted until 1580, and after Sangallo's death it was directed by other superintendents. A central plan depends on one controlling intelligence; six decades and a change of management is the opposite of that.

The tower that was never built

The clearest consequence. Two symmetrical towers were in the design and only one was built. Nothing in the sources says why, and this page does not guess — but a second tower is the first thing to be cut from a project that has already overrun by forty years and lost its architect.

Travertine throughout

One decision held from start to finish: the entire exterior is travertine slabs. Sixty-two years of building, several superintendents, one material.

Why is this church architecturally important?

Because of its plan and who else used it. San Biagio is a Greek-cross central plan — equal arms under a dome — taken from Brunelleschi by way of Giuliano da Sangallo's Santa Maria delle Carceri at Prato, and designed by Giuliano's brother Antonio da Sangallo the Elder. The same plan was used in the original designs by Bramante and Michelangelo for St Peter's Basilica, and at Santa Maria della Consolazione in Todi.

When was it built?

It began in 1518 — and the honest answer about the finish is that the sources disagree. The article on the church says the building was raised between 1518 and 1540; the article on the town says 1545. Both also record that construction lasted until 1580, directed by other superintendents after Sangallo's death. This page gives 1518 and 1580 and does not pick between 1540 and 1545.

Why does it only have one bell tower?

Because the second was never built. The design included two symmetrical towers flanking the façade, and only one was built — multi-floored, richly detailed, ending in a pyramidal cusp. No source says why. The result is that the most symmetrically conceived building in the area is permanently lopsided.

What should I actually do when I get there?

Walk all the way round it before you try the door. The same façade scheme is repeated on all three fronts, the frieze of triglyphs and metopes runs round the entire perimeter, and the point of a centrally planned church is that it has no single front. It is one of very few such churches anywhere that you can circle in open ground.

Are there opening hours or a ticket?

Neither is published anywhere we can verify, so this page states none. It is a church, not a ticketed monument. The architecture is on the exterior and is always available; if you need the interior, call the Comune di Montepulciano on 0578 7121.

Who paid for it?

The project was supported by Pope Leo X, whose connection to the town ran through Angelo Poliziano — the Montepulciano-born humanist under whom the pope had studied.

What was here before?

A Palaeochristian pieve dedicated to St Mary and later to St Blaise, whose plebanial rights, acquired around the year 1000, eventually passed up to the town and to Montepulciano's cathedral. By the early 16th century only remains survived, including a wall with a 14th-century Sienese fresco of the Madonna with Child and St Francis — though no reachable source says whether that fresco is still there.

Should I walk down from the town?

Down, yes; back up, think twice. It is a short walk down from the walls and a steep climb back into a town that is itself one continuous ascent. In summer that return is the hardest walking in Montepulciano, so driving the five minutes is the better plan.