It derives from the coat of arms of its ancient military company of Saint Donato to Montanini which has a dragon in its sign in memory of Saint Caterina whose family (Benincasa) had a dragon as a coat of arms.
Silver badge with a green dragon, surmounted by an ancient crown, holding in its right claw a light blue banner, leaning on the wing, with the initial U in golden roman capitol letter as per concession of Humbert I in occasion of his visit in 1887.
Ancient rose and green flag bordered in yellow.
The heart that burns in my chest becomes flame in the mouth
Fieriness.
Bankers
50
Saint Catherine from Siena, April 29th (celebrated on the last Sunday of May)
Camollia
"Camporegio" (Royal field), via Camporegio
Piazza Matteotti, 18
vicolo della Palla a Corda, 6
Church of Santa Caterina, which belonged to the "nuns of Paradise" and passed to the Contrada by the Granducale decree in 1787 (officiated from 1788). It is located in Piazza Matteotti.
The Lay Companies represented one of the first forms of aggregation of the peoples of the Contrade. That of San Domenico in Camporegio since 1650 met in the chapel of the Company.
From 1679 the "brothers" even undertook to contribute to the expenses incurred on the occasion of the Palio, provided that in case of victory the "prize" was offered, as a sign of devotion, to the altar of San Domenico.
This collaboration lasted almost a hundred years and ended with the victory of the Palio on 2 July 1738 due to disagreements between the parties. From this date to 1787 the history of the Dragon returns to darkness, with the exception of a few brief references in the minutes of the Lay Company of San Domenico. On the other hand, the banner won by the Contrada on 16 August 1786 and kept in the Sala delle Vittorie is tangible.
From the report of 25 November 1787 it is learned that the dragaioli welcomed the fact that the Grand Duke of Tuscany Pietro Leopoldo had "fulfilled the precepts of our Captain and Prior" and was thus "granted to the Contrada our Church of the suppressed conservatory of Paradise to use of the Oratory ". But only on April 17, 1788 did the Drago take possession of his Oratory.
The small church of the so-called Sisters of Paradise remained in the primitive position, on the Poggio dei Malavolti, and at the time of the Poggio's lowering it was necessary to provide it with a staircase that descends from the door of the Church itself to today's Sala delle Vittorie and the Piazza. It is the only building left of the large monastic complex that ran on the left along the street which still bears the name of Via del Paradiso.
The Sisters who had inhabited it (the Mantellate of Santa Caterina da Siena) had their headquarters in a nearby building, offered to them by the Malavolti family. In a short time they had managed to build a monastery and the church (between 1524 and 1528) to which they gave the name of "Convent of Paradise" dedicating the church to Santa Caterina. Deleted the convent, like all the others in the city, from Pietro Leopoldo, he gave it to the Drago.
Inside the temple, with stuccos and altars from 1693, there are three valuable paintings: "La Pietà e Santi" (on the main altar) by Francesco Rustici, known as Rustichino; on the right "La Madonna di Sorano" by Domenico Manetti; on the left "Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Siena" by Raffaello Vanni. Precious the work of Lorenzo di Mariano known as Marrina: "Annunciata", from the second decade of the century. XVI. It is a painted terracotta recently restored. Also by Marrina a sculpture of "Santa Caterina da Siena" also this painted terracotta.
The pictorial work most loved by the dragatoli is the so-called "Madonna della Tegola" (by Sienese artist of the seventeenth century) which is the official Marian image of the Contrada. Tradition has it that the image appeared miraculously after a nun of the monastery, "in a serious occurrence and necessity" of the monastery had seen the Madonna appear on the roof of the same.
The still present organ was built by the Contrada in 1836 by the Agati company of Pistoia while the "antependium" for the main altar was carved, in 1844, by Antonio Manetti.
Among the sacred objects, coming from the Convent of Paradise, there are four chalices (silvered or gilded) in the Contrada, while the beautiful monstrance of embossed and chiseled cast silver is due to the silversmith Narciso Stanghellini (1838). The planet donated by Pope Benedict XV in 1916 is noteworthy, while numerous are the ones embroidered from the 17th to the 20th century.
Previous oratories:
- Church of the Saint Domenico in Camporegio Company (from 1650 to 1738).
Work by the sculptor Vico Consorti, built in 1977 it has a target saying that the purpose of the fountain itself is to pass on to the new generations, the remembrance of two valuable priors as Mario Calamati and Alberto Rossi. It is in Piazza Matteotti right in front of the museum.