Parish Church of Sant’Innocenza in Piana

The Parish Church consists of the Romanesque church of St. Innocenza, incorporated into a large fortified building, mainly of brick, with a sloping base. Some crenellations and a sturdy keep can be seen at the south-eastern corner. Through an archway next to the bell-tower you reach a sixteenth-century interior cloister with a wide gallery.

Some historians believe the church dates from the 7th-8th centuries and that a group of Canons lived as a community there. There are documents dating from 1081 concerning an early Rector of the church. In 1397, when Florentine troops from Montepulciano invaded part of Siena’s territory, the Sienese ordered the Spedale of Santa Maria della Scala to fortify it. It was the summer residence of the Bishops of Siena and two Popes also stayed there.

Among the works of art in the Church, you can see traces of frescos from the 1300s and 1500s; a Madonna and Child on panels by the fourteenth-century painter Luca di Tommè is now preserved in the Museum of Sacred Art of Val d’Arbia.