Chiesa di San Sigismondo

San Sigismondo is Gaiole in Chianti's twentieth-century parish church. Its neo-Gothic architecture combines modern construction with furnishings that connect the building to older religious communities in the surrounding countryside.

Why it matters

The church shows how a modern parish adopted a medieval architectural vocabulary while preserving earlier devotional objects. The contrast is particularly clear in the scagliola altar frontal brought from San Bartolomeo at Vertine.

What to notice

The unfinished facade contrasts with the ordered interior of three aisles, carved capitals, cross vaults and apses. The altar frontal of 1699 depicts the Madonna del Rosario in scagliola, a decorative plaster technique imitating costly stone. A triptych represents San Sigismondo with Catherine of Siena and Bernardino. Orlando Agati's bronze doors carry reliefs of the Passion.

Context and history

The neo-Gothic design is credited to the Franciscan Father Franci. Construction occupied part of the twentieth century, and Bishop Antonio Bagnoli of Fiesole consecrated the church in 1959. Later additions included the bronze doors inaugurated in 2000. A medieval Crucifixion by Niccolò di Pietro Gerini associated with the parish is held in Siena's Pinacoteca Nazionale, rather than in this modern church.