The wave. During the period of the Sienese Republic people from this Contrada were in charge of the Tyrrhenian shoreline defense.
Silver badge with a dolphin surmounted by a royal crown, starting from 1889 as per concession of Umbert I, swimming in a blue sea.
Light-blue and white flag in equal parts.
The color of the sky, the strength of the sea.
Joy.
Carpenters
16
Visitation of the Holy Virgin July the 2nd (celebrated on the 4th Sunday of June).
Città
"Giovanni Duprè", Vicolo San Salvadore, 24
Via Giovanni Duprè, 111
via delle Lombarde, 33
The church was probably built on the 16th century on a project ascribed to Baldassarre Peruzzi. It rise near Saint Joseph Arch and was allowed by the Grand-Duke Peter Leopold II in 1787.
It is located on the ancient "site of the Saint Agata charcoal kilns", it began its construction in the 16th century, more precisely from 1517. The project is attributed to Baldassarre Peruzzi or to Bartolomeo Neroni known as Riccio, while the facade was built in 1653 based on a design by Benedetto Giovannelli. Above the door there is a terracotta bust of Saint Joseph, attributed to Tommaso Redi.
The church was the seat of the Arte dei Legnaioli, who occupied it until 1785, the year in which the lay companies were suppressed. In 1787, with a Rescritto by the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo II, it became the property of the Contrada who moved there from the oratory annexed to the church of Saint Salvadore dedicated to the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Saint Elizabeth: in his honor the swordsmen still celebrate the own party holder.
The construction works of the church of San Giuseppe went on for over a century and determined the creation of a church with a Greek cross plan, characterized by an umbrella vault.
The same structure is repeated in the crypt that houses the Contrada museum and which, from an architectural point of view, is a unique example in Tuscany. The building served the dual function of a place of worship and a space suitable for hosting the meetings of the Art which were held regularly in the crypt or chapel or, as they themselves write, "under the vaults of our Church".
The interior of the Oratory is accessed through a beautiful wooden gate, the work of the engraver Pietro Montini and dated between 1712 and 1720, which carries carved tools of the carpenters' trade. The restoration of the paintings on the walls, carried out in 2003-2004, returned to the Contrada four semicircular and four rectangular paintings in the dome of Saint Joseph, the work of Sienese artists such as Apollonio and Giuseppe Nicola Nasini, Astolfo Petrazzi, Dionisio Montorselli, Deifebo Burbarini.
The stucco statues and the high altar are the work of Giuseppe and Giovanni Antonio Mazzuoli. On the altar stands out the Baroque depiction of the Glory of Saint Joseph: a machine destined to arouse the "wonder" of the faithful, in line with the tastes and seventeenth-century artistic suggestions, a period to which the entire complex is traced.
The devotional aspect linked to the Saint, patron of the carpenters, is also very important, but also a fundamental religious reference for the whole city, often chosen for the important Sunday procession in Albis.
A recent restoration of the statue, of the highest quality from a stylistic point of view and traditionally attributed to Domenico Arrighetti, in addition to bringing to light the original colors and modeling, allowed to appreciate the density and complexity of the work, given by the coexistence of religious elements and secular elements, concrete.
The depiction of the Saint with a planer in his hand, his adult but still young appearance make him close to the daily work of the carpenters. The wooden Child, added later but already documented at the end of the seventeenth century, now restored and preserved separately, enriches its figure by alluding to its role as father, divine and human together. An antependium from 2007, by Alberto Postano, depicts Saint Joseph and recalls the restorations made.
On the right altar there is a wooden Crucifix of the seventeenth century, also like Saint Joseph, commissioned by the University and Art of the Woodworkers and subject to restoration by the Contrada. It was originally kept in the crypt, where it had its own marble altar, and only later transferred to the upper church.
The Crucifix of the Legnaioli was considered miraculous: it too was carried many times in procession on Sunday in Albis. The author, unknown for now, probably close to or even a member of the Carpenters' Art, made it by collecting different pieces of wood, perhaps donated by the carpenters themselves and lovingly put back together. It would therefore be a sort of choral work, wanted by a group of craftsmen who wanted a Christ with a strong emotional impact, which had the bruised color of death and bleeding wounds.
On the left altar is the official image of the Contrada, the canvas depicting the Madonna and Child with two angels, made by the painter Francesco Bartalini in 1594. The same artist is responsible for the canvas with the Holy Family and Saint Giovannino preserved in the sacristy together with an important seventeenth-century wooden furniture.
Previous oratories:
- Oratory of the Visitation of Mary Most Holy (from 1589 to 1787).
On a project by Algero Rosi. The coats of arms were made by Vittorio Conti. The works in bronze are by Alfonso Buoninsegni (1972). Situated right in front of the oratory, at the beginning of via Fontanella.