The name of this Contrada is derived from "Montorio", the legendary Roman centurion who with Camelio laid seige to the nephews of Romulus, Senio and Aschio, the founders of Siena.
A rampant ram surmounted by an imperial crown on yellow background. In the top left-hand corner is a gold Roman letter U on a blue background with a crown above it.
Red and yellow flag bordered in white.
Under my blow the wall falls.
The perseverance.
Silk merchant (Sericae Artis)
90
Madonna of the Good Counsel, April 26th (celebration last Sunday in April or 1st May if it falls on Sunday).
SanMartino
"Castelmontorio", Alessandro Manzoni Square, 6
The Hall of Victories is in via Valdimontone 4/a. The Historical Museum is located at the bottom of the stairs in the former Church of San Leonardo at number 6.
piazza Alessandro Manzoni, 3
Church of the Holy Trinity, granted in perpetual use to the Contrada, which celebrates its mass there every Sunday.
Badiani in his valuable "The Contradas of Siena as people of canon law" attests - moreover without documentary evidence - that "the primitive seat of this Contrada seems to have been the basilica of the Servites", the news according to which the people are certain of Valdimontone, in 1666, not having his own oratory in which to officiate permanently, he asked to be able to gather "in a very special way" in the Church of the Lay Company of the Holy Trinity; subject of the meeting: participation, or not, in the Palio of 2 July. As in other situations, in exchange for the possibility of using the Compagnie church, in the event of Palio's victory, the Drappellone was donated to the "brothers" of the Holy Trinity.
For about eighty years, the motor-sailors were hosted in the beautiful church, with a renewable concession every ten years and on condition that "with the begging, the feast of Our Lady of the Cross of the Piano dei Servi is provided". Then came the usual quarrels between the Contrada and the Company for which the meetings were held in the nearby Commandery of San Leonardo of the Sovereign Military Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (later became Rhodes and then Malta as evidenced by two coats of arms with the four-armed cross and eight points behind the apse).
In 1818, the commendas having been suppressed eight years earlier, the Archbishop granted Montone the church of San Leonardo for free use, with the commitment to take care of its maintenance in particular after the disastrous earthquake of 1798; the relative restorations were curated by Agostino Fantastici.
At that time, the montonaioli remained until 1978 when, considering the reduced activity of the Company, they asked for and were able to use the Church of the Santissima as their Oratory: request accepted and concession in use for 99 years.
The Contrada returned to celebrate the traditional rites in the Church that first hosted it and of which certain news of its existence is known already at the end of the 1400s, when the managers of the Lay Company asked for subsidies from the Municipality for restoration works.
In the following years the "brothers" proceeded to assign the works for the completion of the Church with the "dull", "the chori", the preparation of the high altar and the pictorial representation of the walls. In 1539 Sodoma was criticized for having left his job halfway... "awaiting the painter's assentia, having gone to Pisa" and tried to entrust the completion of the choirs to "said el Riccio". But even these did not keep the commitment and in 1564 the work was assigned to Lorenzo Rustici.
The end of the century saw the creation of the most significant works: in 1587 the painting by Alessandro Casolani was inaugurated: "The three sorrowful Marys under the Cross" which forms the background of the bronze Crucifix, a work by the "Bresciano" sculpted ten years earlier. In those years Ventura Salimbeni was commissioned to provide the pictorial decoration of the two cruises and the "three windows towards the big door".
The artistic enrichment continued in the second half of the 1600s when Raffaello Vanni was entrusted with the gouache paintings on the wall of the counter-facade, just as in 1663 the altar of the Chapel of the Madonna adjacent to the Cappellone was completely rebuilt.
In addition to the works mentioned above, it is worth mentioning "The Holy Trinity in the high heavens" by Nicola Nasini, "The Knights of the Apocalypse" by Alessandro Casolani and the "Madonna del Buon Consiglio", patroness of the Contrada. This work deserves a special treatment. It is an identical copy to the original found in the Sanctuary of Genazzano, near Rome, where it has been venerated since 1467. It is a prodigious image to which, thanks to the 16th century, graces and miracles have been attributed; this is why churches dedicated to her were erected in many parts of Italy.
In Siena it was intended to honor her by making a copy of the original that is present today in the Oratory of the Holy Trinity. It was painted, at the expense of Rev. Fabio dei Conti Bichi, by Giovanni Antonio Catani from Siena between 1756 and 1757 and was donated to the Prior of the Contrada of Valdimontone. Due to the lack of a church of its own, the montonaioli moved it to San Girolamo and when in 1818 they obtained the San Leonardo as an oratory, they transferred it to it in "pomp".
In 1909 it was decided to dedicate the titular feast to you on the day of your anniversary (April 26). Once the Church of SS. Trinity the image of the Madonna del Buon Consiglio was transferred there with a solemn procession: it was September 8, 1978.
With the passing of the years the canvas showed color drops and blackening due to the smoke from the candles and moreover part of the upper area had been folded (perhaps to adapt it to an already existing frame ...): the restoration of 2000 served to clean up and revive the original colors and recover the entire painting.
Previous oratories:
- Santissa Trinità (since 1661 to 1741).
- San Leonardo (since 1742 to 1978).
The Contrada baptism takes place in the amphitheater adjacent to the Hall of Victories on the afternoon of the day before the titular feast.