Company of Our Lady under the Arches of the Hospital and the Society of Executors of Pious Dispositions

The Confraternity of the Disciplinati di Maria Santissima, later the Società di Esecutori di Pie Disposizioni, is the oldest lay brotherhood located in the underground sections of Santa Maria della Scala. Originally established in Siena Cathedral, the existence of the confraternity, devoted to charitable works, is mentioned in a letter by Saint Catherine herself. On April 14, 1785, a grand-ducal decree included the company among those suppressed, reforming it as the Società di Esecutori di Pie Disposizioni dedicated to charitable works, while depriving it of its religious aspects. Only in 1792 did Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, definitively restore the Society as a religious confraternity. Its artistic heritage, enriched over the centuries both through furnishings and works of art, often acquired through bequests from artists to whom the institution itself awarded scholarships, remains considerable even today, though for the most part preserved at the headquarters on Via Roma, where numerous works such as paintings and furnishings from the Sienese school can be found. At Santa Maria della Scala, a beautiful wooden Crucifix is still preserved among the terracotta figures of Saint Bernardino and Saint Catherine; tradition holds that this was the crucifix that inspired Saint Bernardino to don the Franciscan habit. On the other altar of the oratory, there is a canvas by Alessandro Casolani depicting the Madonna and Child with Saints Peter and Paul. The Sacristy also features fascinating frescoes attributed to Andrea Vanni and Luca di Tommè. During the restoration of the ancient hospital at the end of the last century, a vast fresco cycle from the early 1300s depicting monks and hermits was uncovered along the staircase leading to the company of the Disciplinati. This extraordinary pictorial complex, known as the 'Thebaid,' is attributed to the Sienese painter Lippo Vanni.

From November 7, the “Thebaid” can be visited as part of the museum itinerary. The fresco cycle, dated to the early 1340s, decorates the entrance hall of the former company of the Disciplinati, now the historic headquarters of the Società di Esecutori di Pie Disposizioni, which promoted and carried out the restoration with the support of Robert Cope, president of the Vaseppi Foundation.
Rediscovered in 1999 during works directed by architect Guido Canali, the “Thebaid” depicts the lives of the hermits in the desert of Thebes, inspired by the Lives of the Holy Fathers by Fra Domenico Cavalca: a narrative of meditation, prayer, and contemplative life of extraordinary intensity. A masterpiece of fourteenth-century Siena, the work represents one of the most significant artistic discoveries of recent decades. The company also preserves a collection of study essays by major Sienese artists of the nineteenth century, the result of the Alunnato Biringucci, a scholarship program promoted thanks to the bequests of brothers and benefactors.