Chiesa di San Lorenzo al Ponte (St. Lawrence at the Bridge Church), San Gimignano

The Church of Saint Lawrence at the Bridge ranks among the oldest sacred structures in San Gimignano. Erected in 1240-likely atop the foundations of an earlier church-the building was commissioned and maintained by the municipal government, as confirmed by the town's statutes of 1255. Its evocative name, “al Ponte”, meaning “at the bridge”, alludes to its proximity to a medieval drawbridge that once provided access from the bishop’s castle onto Square of the Cistern.

The church follows the traditional Romanesque style, featuring a single rectangular nave with a wooden truss roof and a raised, vaulted presbytery. In the early 14th century, a simple portico-possibly just a canopy-was added along the left side to shelter an image of the Madonna and Child from the elements.

A depiction of the Madonna in Glory became the church’s focal object of devotion. The figure’s body, the Child, and the surrounding angelic garland were restored in the 15th century, but the Virgin’s face is thought to be the work of a young Simone Martini, a key artist of the Sienese Gothic style. The image gained such widespread veneration that, in the early 1400s, the modest portico was enlarged into a full oratory.

Around 1413, the oratory and church interiors were richly frescoed by the Florentine artist Cenni di Francesco. His fresco cycle vividly explores the afterlife-depicting scenes of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise-framed through the lens of Saint Lawrence, who here is uniquely shown interceding to save souls in Purgatory.