(An unspoilt small town with a beautiful romanesque church and no tourist razzmatazz. Town plan available from tourist office opposite the Palazzo Chigi in the main street.)

This little town, half-way between Montalcino and Pienza, is usually by-passed by tourists; yet it contains several lovely things. Situated on what was one of the main roads between the Northern Italian states and Rome - indeed one of the main pilgrims' ways to Rome - it used in the past to be a major stopping place for important people on their way south. The first recorded distingished traveller to stay there was an early Archbishop of Canterbury, Sigeric, in 990. The most famous visitor was the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, who camped there in 1154 when on his way to Rome to be crowned by the Pope, and there is still a festival every year in honour of his visit, the "Festa del Barbarossa", on the third Sunday in June.

San Quirico still has much of its original fortified walls, with traces of some 14 small towers and three gates - the best preserved is the Porta Cappucini, a strange polygonal structure. But the town's main sights are three attractive churches, strung out along the main street.

The Collegiate Church (Collegiata), the best of the three, is the first that you come to on entering the town from the direction of Siena. It is an attractive Romanesque--turning-to-Gothic structure dating from the 12th and 13th centuries, with three excellent carved doorways. The striking main door, which greets and draws on the visitor entering the town, is pure Romanesque and is attributed to Giovanni Pisano. It is carved mainly of white travertine, but some of the animals and pillars are of a darker, brownish stone, unfortunately softer and therefore more worn. The two crocodile-like dragons over the door, however, are still excellently preserved. The other two doors show signs of the transition to Gothic, but the middle one in particular still has much interesting carving, with figures attributed again to Giovanni Pisano. Note also the tiny figure carved in the corner or the window on this side.

Inside, the Romanesque interior is somewhat marred by an awkward baroque altar. But the church contains two treasures, a tryptich (1470) by Sano di Pietro, and quite magnificent marquetry stalls. The tryptich light switch on the left) shows the Virgin and Child surrounded by saints; St John the Baptist and San Quirico on the left and St Fortunatus and St John the Evangelist on the right, and two tiny donors below. St Quirico was a Jew who was said to have revealed the hiding-place of the true Cross to St Helena, and he holds the nails from the cross. Despite these gory symbols, and the head on a plate carried by St Fortunatus, the figures have a quiet and serene look. Note also the sumptuous robes of the Virgin and the decorative marble floor with a carpet under the throne.

The real high-light of the church, however, is the set of the magnificent inlaid panels behind the altar (at present being restored in Florence, but expected back in 1992). They date from between 1482 and 1502 and are by the Sienese artist Antonio Barili. There are seven scenes, all with great character, some of the best examples of the Italian art of "painting" with wood.

Also worth a glance, on the left of the nave, is the handsome marble tomb of another visitor to San Quirico, this time one who died there, in 1451- Count Henry of Nassau.

Next to the Collegiata, the Palazzo Chigi is a fine if dilapidated 17th century villa which is at present (1991) being restored. Further down the main street, also on the left, is another church, San Francesco. It has been messed about with architecturally and its interior is now elegant Renaissance in style. It has a rather beautiful white terracotta Madonna on the main altar, attributed to Andrea della Robbia - it may be part of a pair making an Annunciation scene, as it is rare to see the Virgin alone without the child unless she is either meeting the archangel Gabriel or being assumed into heaven. There are also two 15th century painted wooden statues - this time a complete Annunciation set, with both the Virgin and the angel - attributed to a pupil of Jacopo della Quercia.

Opposite San Francesco, there is a way through into the Horti Leonini (Leonini Gardens), a not very attractive exampIe of a formal 16th century Italian garden, created in 1580 by one Diomede Leoni. There is some modern sculpture dotted around the garden, but also one ancient statue in the middle, of Grand Duke Cosimo Medici III of Florence, sculpted in 1688 on the orders of Cardinal Flavio Chigi, whom the Grand Duke had just created Marquis of San Quirico (the town had recently passed to the Florentines, and the marquisate was obviously a valuable piece of patronage in the hands of the Grand Duke).

Further along the main street on the right, almost at the end of the town, is the tiny Romanesque church of Santa Maria Assunta (holy Mary of the Assumption). It is very early, built probably at the beginning of the lOth century, and is an unspoilt example of the simplest sort of one-aisled Romanesque church, almost the only decorative feature being the tiny porch.
(1991)