This
quarter of Siena is situated to the west of the city, and was the
popular portion of a district represented by the military companies
of Stalloreggi di Dentro and Stalloreggi di Fuori. It was here that
Duccio di Buoninsegna kept his workshop, and between the years 1308
and 1311 painted his much-admired Maestà. The Contrada adopted the
name of Panther perhaps in homage to the wealthy Lucca merchants who
resided in their quarter. When the contrada came into
possession of the oratory of St.John the Baptist in 1684 it enlarged
and improved it. The oratory had been erected in 1642 by the town
Treasury to house the corpses of the executed and it passed under
the jurisdiction of the Panther and remained so until the close of
the following century. In the second decade of the 20th century, the
Panther’s members founded the Società del Leone; its purpose was to
organize trips, culinary outings, and friendly get-togethers. The
association remained active until the eve of the World War II. In
1959, world-famous baritone Ettore Bastianini, a native of the
Panther, was elected Captain. He gave a fresh impulse to the
contrada but he died prematurely in 1967 and the city of Siena
renamed the Via delle Scuole after him in 1974. In Via Stalloreggi,
there is a noteworthy tabernacle with a fresco entitled Madonna of
the Crow. It marks the point where, as legend has it, a crow fell
stricken by the plague in 1348, the first sign of the terrible
epidemic that according to sources of the time reduced the Sienese
population by more than half.
This
quarter of Siena is situated to the west of the city, and was the
popular portion of a district represented by the military companies
of Stalloreggi di Dentro and Stalloreggi di Fuori. It was here that
Duccio di Buoninsegna kept his workshop, and between the years 1308
and 1311 painted his much-admired Maestà. The Contrada adopted the
name of Panther perhaps in homage to the wealthy Lucca merchants who
resided in their quarter. When the contrada came into
possession of the oratory of St.John the Baptist in 1684 it enlarged
and improved it. The oratory had been erected in 1642 by the town
Treasury to house the corpses of the executed and it passed under
the jurisdiction of the Panther and remained so until the close of
the following century. In the second decade of the 20th century, the
Panther’s members founded the Società del Leone; its purpose was to
organize trips, culinary outings, and friendly get-togethers. The
association remained active until the eve of the World War II. In
1959, world-famous baritone Ettore Bastianini, a native of the
Panther, was elected Captain. He gave a fresh impulse to the
contrada but he died prematurely in 1967 and the city of Siena
renamed the Via delle Scuole after him in 1974. In Via Stalloreggi,
there is a noteworthy tabernacle with a fresco entitled Madonna of
the Crow. It marks the point where, as legend has it, a crow fell
stricken by the plague in 1348, the first sign of the terrible
epidemic that according to sources of the time reduced the Sienese
population by more than half.