The Tempio di San Biagio (Temple or Church of Saint Blaise) is one of the most harmonious and architecturally perfect Renaissance churches in all of Italy — a serene masterpiece set just below the medieval hilltop town of Montepulciano, in the heart of Tuscany.
According to tradition, the church was built on the site where the local population witnessed the miraculous movement of the Madonna’s eyes on an ancient fresco painted on a crumbling parish wall.
Work began in 1518, financed by the Cathedral Chapter of Montepulciano and local nobles. Montepulciano’s leaders commissioned Antonio da Sangallo the Elder to design a new temple worthy of the event and the town’s growing prestige
.The project took nearly three decades and was completed in 1545, shortly before Sangallo’s death.
The Tempio di San Biagio (Temple or Church of Saint Blaise) is one of the most harmonious and architecturally perfect Renaissance churches in all of Italy — a serene masterpiece set just below the medieval hilltop town of Montepulciano, in the heart of Tuscany.
According to tradition, the church was built on the site where the local population witnessed the miraculous movement of the Madonna’s eyes on an ancient fresco painted on a crumbling parish wall.
Work began in 1518, financed by the Cathedral Chapter of Montepulciano and local nobles. Montepulciano’s leaders commissioned Antonio da Sangallo the Elder to design a new temple worthy of the event and the town’s growing prestige
.The project took nearly three decades and was completed in 1545, shortly before Sangallo’s death.
