The Church of Santa Maria delle Nevi is located in the historic center of Siena. The church of Santa Maria delle Nevi was built between 1471 and 1477 at the behest of Giovanni Cinughi, the first bishop of Pienza and a member of one of the oldest noble families in Siena, as a private chapel, linked to the worship of the bishop's family members. Giovanni Cinughi, who was a close friend of Pope Pius II, wanted this sacred space isolated, outside the structures of his nearby palace, in the heart of the city of Siena, along the ancient route of the Via Francigena. The bishop committed all his assets to the construction of this building, which he did not live to see completed. The church is dedicated to the Madonna delle Nevi, the Virgin who had announced the miraculous snowfall on August 5th, 352 AD, suggesting to Pope Liberius the location to build the Roman basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. The construction of this church in Siena helped spread the worship of the Madonna delle Nevi among both the aristocratic families and the common people in the city. Of the church, which still retains its original forms, with its Renaissance features in the form of a small temple, we do not know the name of the architect who built it, but it is hypothesized to be an important figure present in Siena after 1450, perhaps Lorenzo di Pietro known as il Vecchietta, who was also a painter and sculptor, a pupil of the great Francesco di Giorgio. The stuccoes on the sides of the altar depicting Saint Joseph and Saint Mary Magdalene de'Pazzi are attributed to the Sienese sculptor Giuseppe Maria Mazzuoli (1727-1781).