Along the old route of the Strada Vecchia Aretina, to the east of Laterina, a solitary tabernacle was erected in the late 14th century, possibly dedicated from the outset to the Madonna with Child. It was one of many ‘Maestà’ that characterized the now peaceful Tuscan countryside. The structure consisted of a small building with a gabled roof, featuring a vaulted space with a barrel ceiling, open toward the road, with what was likely a fresco on its rear wall.
Painted around the mid-15th century at the commission of the population of Laterina and dedicated to the Madonna della Misericordia, with Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Bernardino of Siena, whom tradition holds was said to have stopped to preach near Laterina—the small chapel was expanded in the second half of the century with the addition, on the left, of a chapel or oratory dedicated to the Madonna. In 1551, a hospice for the Franciscan friars is documented here, who also owned the oratory of Saint Roch. In 1697, Giovan Battista Busatti rebuilt the “architectural shell” that unified the two previous buildings, respectively dedicated to Saint Bernardino and the Madonna della Neve.
“HAS AEDES D. SACRAS BERNAR /DINO INSIGNI DEIPARAE AD NIVES / PRO TITULO DOTAVIT IO. BAPTISTA BUSATTI M / IOANNIS FILIUS PAROCH. ECCLESIAE SANCTI BARTHOLOMEI DE VITERETA RECTOR A. D. MDCXCVII”
The simple facade is characterized by two small windows with iron bars and a lintel portal, topped by the coat of arms of the Busatti family. Of interest inside the chapel of San Bernardino is the concise 15th-century view of the village of Laterina, with the Florentine Gate and the Arezzo Gate, the Church of Saints Hippolytus and Cassian, the churches of San Biagio and Sant’Andrea, the tower of the Town Hall, and the bell, possibly from the Palazzo dei Vicari.
