Originally, the building had a single nave, a Latin cross plan with a portico on three sides. It assumed its current form—three naves in a Latin cross—in 1928-1929 when the church was completely renovated. The only altar is placed in a square-plan apse. The façade has a single functional door, while the other two have been walled up. On the first level, it is divided by six pilasters, two of which, positioned centrally to frame the door, feature Ionic capitals. On the second level, the four pilasters supporting the pediment are less elevated than those on the first level, while the two central ones have composite capitals. Between the wider cornice of the first level and the narrower one of the second, there are some curved connecting elements that lighten the façade.
**Description:** The wooden statue, seen by the apostolic visitor Castelli in 1575, was described at the time as being in poor condition. It is a polychrome Madonna and Child.
**In use:** Between 1575 and 1682
**Image:** Statue
**Description:** A wooden panel depicting the Virgin and Child, dated to the 15th century and an object of great popular devotion. Currently, the panel is no longer kept in the sanctuary but in the parish church of San Donato, specifically in the first chapel to the left of the church entrance.
**Image:** Painting
**Original location of the Sanctuary:** On the walls of the sanctuary.
**Notes on the collection:** Mainly goldsmithing objects.
**Types of ex-votos:** Inscribed tablets or plaques, painted tablets, goldsmithing objects, anthropomorphic figurines.
**Current preservation:** Many ex-votos have been sold over the centuries. We do not provide details on their current preservation for security reasons.
Around 1629, the sanctuary was under construction on the ruins of a church of Santa Maria, already recorded as a suffragan of the pieve of San Giovanni di Paterno in the *Rationes Decimarum Tusciae* of 1276-1277. (Serena Leonardi, *Le chiese di Chianni attraverso gli scritti di un erudito del ‘700: Giovanni Mariti*, in C. Agostini, C. Iannella, M. Tangheroni, eds., *La comunità di Chianni. Momenti di storia*, Pisa, ETS 1994, pp. 147-164).
We preface this with a clarification valid for all the sanctuaries in the Diocese of Volterra: due to the unavailability of the archivists at the Diocesan Archive of Volterra, the researchers Roberto Boldrini and Alessandro Furiesi, who worked on the sanctuaries of that diocese, were unable to consult the relevant documentation. Therefore, they compiled their records based on bibliographic sources and documentation preserved in the manuscript collection of the Guarnacci Library in Volterra and other minor archives. Any inaccuracies, errors, or gaps in the records are thus attributable to the inability to access firsthand documentation. We hope, however, that the chapter and diocesan archives of Volterra will eventually open to all scholars, as currently only a few fortunate researchers have been able to access the documents stored there. Those who contributed to this census do not belong to this privileged group.
The Church of Carmine also housed the Company of Sant’Antonio at the eponymous Taglini-patroned altar, suppressed in 1785. This record was compiled by Roberto Boldrini.
The patronage of the sanctuary also belonged to the Nine Conservators of the Florentine Dominion and Jurisdiction.
56034 Chianni PI, Italy