It was taken from the Libari and Romans who occupied Castelsenio, the highest center of the city.
Gold coat of arms with natural turtle sown with blue Savoy knots alternated with daisies, a privilege granted by Umberto I and Margherita on the occasion of their coming to Siena.
Yellow and pale blue.
I harbour might and perseverance.
Firmness
Sculptor
13
Saint Anthony from Padua June 13th (celebrated on he second Sunday of June)
CittÃ
"Castelsenio", Piazzetta Silvio Gigli
Via Tommaso Pendola, 21
vicolo della Tartuca, 9
Builded in the 17th century by the Contrada it is consecrate to the Patrono Saint Anthony from Padua. It is situated in via Tommaso Pendola.
The first seat of the Contrada della Tartuca, for meetings and for religious functions, was, in the early 1600s, the oratory of Sant'Ansano in Castelvecchio also called "delle Carceri" to remember the patron saint of Siena who was imprisoned there before martyrdom.
Already in the middle of the century the increased activity of the Contrada did not allow to remain operational in such restricted areas and, also due to the disagreements that arose with the Rector of the Opera who no longer considered the use of the Church possible, the tartuchini in 1664, gathered in assembly, they accepted the proposal of the Prior Agostino Regoli which envisaged the construction of its own Oratory.
A dilapidated house was thus purchased, owned by the Augustinian Fathers, in via delle Murella, but due to lack of funds, the Contrada was forced not to carry out the necessary renovation and adaptation works. Thus hospitality was requested again in Sant'Ansano where the tartuchini remained until 1682.
Starting from 1685, thanks to the subscription between Contradaioli, the project of two inhabitants of the Contrada (father and son Franchini) was followed up to adapt the old home of the Murella to a church; the work continued briskly also because many of those who worked there (contradaioli) gave up their wages.
On 7 September 1685, even without the high altar, the Oratory was inaugurated and took the name of Sant'Antonio alle Murella in memory of the old toponym of the street where it stood (in reference to what little remained of the fortifications of an ancient defensive belt).
Some years later Giovan Antonio Mazzuoli finished the new high altar as well as the frescoes by Annibale Mazzuoli, Nicola and Antonio Nasini and Vincenzo Ferrati. Towards the end of the century the Oratory was subject to various transformations but the earthquake of 1798 significantly damaged the vault and the bell tower, however rebuilt just two years later.
Precisely in these years Tartuca had "free use" of the organ belonging to the suppressed convent of Santa Maria in Castelvecchio; with the commitment to overhaul it, it was finally sold into ownership and an "orchestra" was built to welcome it worthily above the entrance door.
In 1821 the facade was redone and other restorations were carried out. In the following years the Oratory was enriched with the "antependium" and the Annunciation for the high altar. Towards the end of the 1800s, on a design by Arturo Viligiardi, a graffiti painted on the floor was installed by Leopoldo Maccari. In 1884 the old organ was replaced with a new one.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, again with the intervention of the tartuchino Arturo Viligiardi, other important restorations were carried out which, among other things, allowed the recovery of the seventeenth-century stuccos and the interior of the church was reported, more or less, as it was was built in 1685.
The most important works of art are: "The Virgin and Child who appears in Sant'Antonio" by Giovan Antonio Mazzuoli (1685); "The martyrdom of San Bartolomeo" by Antonio Nasini (1686); "Sant'Ansano baptizes the Sienese" by Annibale Mazzuoli (1689); "San Girolamo e un Angelo" by Giuseppe Nicola Nasini (1689); a wooden frontal taken from the high altar: "Miracles of Sant'Antonio" by Antonio Manetti and Angelo Barbetti (1832) and the aforementioned floor graffiti.
The Contrada has a carved, silvered and gilded wooden decoration, which until recently was used for the religious practice called "Le quarantore" (adoration of the Blessed Sacrament which was held in each Contrada, precisely for 40 hours); practice now incomprehensibly moved to the only site of San Cristoforo in Piazza Tolomei.
Since 1960, the crypt of the Church, which has always been used as a warehouse, has been used for Tartuchin meetings.
Previous oratories:
- Sant'Ansano in Castelvecchio (from about 1600 to 1682).
The figures in bronze on the baptismal font is the work of the sculptor Bruno Buracchini (1951). It is situated in via Tommaso Pendola.