SIENA

We reached Gatwick in good time only to find our plane was delayed, the only one that was as far as we could see. The extra time came in handy because as we arrived there was a security scare of some sort and no-one could get into the departure lounges.  As a result we were late arriving in Pisa so we had to wait for the train to Empoli where we had to change for the train to Siena.  As if we hadn't been delayed enough, the train was held up along the way to have a crowd of younger folk turfed off the train but Italian Railways held our connection, the last train to Siena of the day and we got to Siena but quite late.

We had booked into a B and B where we had a very nice studio apartment.  The reviews of this place were very good and it so turned out.  Knowing that we were arriving in the evening the management had left a letter and a key out for us pinned onto a notice board.  The apartment was actually just down the street in an older building but the  apartment was spacious and well equipped.  We even had two courtyards that we could sit in, one was entirely for our use.

One of the two courtyards with our own statue 

You can see a larger version of any photograph by simply clicking the mouse once on the image. Another click outside the image returns you to the text 

 

 

We had four days in Siena and the first day we spent in Siena itself.

The centre piece of Siena is the Duomo, the cathedral.  Our apartment was close to the centre of the city and close by the Duomo.  Our bed and breakfast was unusual in that it didn't provide breakfast! but we were able to buy vouchers to spend at a nearby cafe.  We did this each day and it appeared that we could buy almost anything we liked without limit.  The cafe was used by all the locals and it was an entertainment in itself to eat there.  We got to know the staff very well and managed to communicate reasonably well as we had very little Italian.

Our first port of call was the Duomo where we joined the crowds.

The cathedral itself was originally designed and completed between 1215 and 1263 on the site of an earlier structure. It has the form of a Latin cross with a dome and a bell tower. The dome rises from a hexagonal base with supporting columns.  The nave is separated from the two aisles by semicircular arches. The exterior and interior are constructed of white and greenish-black marble in alternating stripes, with addition of red marble on the façade.

The Duomo showing the West entrance, the dome and the bell tower.  It doesn't actually lean backwards but you have to take the photo from below the level of the entrance.

The West entrance

 The stained-glass round window in the choir was made in 1288 to the designs of Duccio. It is one of the earliest remaining examples of Italian stained glass.

The inside is dominated by the white and black columns

The inlaid marble mosaic floor is one of the most ornate of its kind in Italy, covering the whole floor of the cathedral. This undertaking went on from the 14th to the 16th centuries and about forty artists made their contribution. The floor consists of 56 panels in different sizes.  The section of the floor under the dome is normally covered and can only be seen for a short period in September.  However, there is plenty of uncovered floor to see.

Details from a floor panel

Another section of the floor

The marble high altar

The organ

The pulpit is made of Carrara marble and was sculpted between the end of 1265 and November 1268 by Nicola Pisano and several other artists.

One of two fonts 

The horizontal moulding around the nave and the presbytery contains 172 plaster busts of  popes dating from the 15th and 16th centuries starting with St. Peter and ending with Lucius III.  Here are just four of them.

 
Detail of the ceiling of the dome

 Just one of the works of art in the Duomo

 A second massive addition of the main body of the cathedral was planned in 1339. It would have more than doubled the size of the structure by means of an entirely new nave and two aisles ranged perpendicular to the existing nave and centred on the high altar.  The construction was begun under the direction of Giovanni di Agostino, better known as a sculptor. Construction was halted by the Black Death in 1348. Basic errors in the construction were already evident by then, however, and the work was never resumed. The outer walls, remains of this extension, can now be seen to the south of the Duomo. The floor of the uncompleted nave now serves as a parking lot and museum.  You can climb up to the end wall of this unfinished extension and gain a wonderful view over Siena

 

Looking over Siena to the Campo 

 

Another view over Siena 

 

 

Looking back to the Dome and Bell Tower.  It is characterstic of Italian churches to have one window on the lowest level and an increasing number as you go up.

To prove we were there

Unlike Florence or Pisa, Siena did not build a separate baptistry. It is located underneath the choir of the Duomo and reached from a separate entrance.  It was built between 1316 and 1325

Detail of the ceiling in the Baptistry

The hexagonal baptismal font in bronze, marble and vitreous enamel



One of the six side panels on the font

A detail on the marble floor

 

A pair of lions

Leaving the Baptistry we arrived at the Piazza del Campo which is the principal public space of the historic center of Siena. It is regarded as one of Europe's greatest medieval squares.

The Piazza del Campo 

The Piazza is the scene the famous horse races where the horses race around the perimeter of the "square" with the people in the centre.

 On one side to the "square" is the Palazzo Pubblico (town hall),  a palace.  Construction began in 1297 and its original purpose was to house the republican government of the time. The tower was designed to be taller than the tower in neighboring rival Florence; at the time it was the tallest structure in Italy.  Its design has been used as the basis for several other campaniles including the Dock Tower in Grimsby, England constructed in 1852 and the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower on the Edgabston campus of the University of Birmingham (completed in 1908).

The Palazzo Pubblico

There are many restaurants around the Campo

One thing we needed to do was visit the local bus station to buy some bus tickets for trips we were going top make over the next few days.  On our way there was passed by the Palazzo Saimbeni. 

The Palazzo Salimbeni is a historical building which currently houses the seat of a bank. It was built in the 14th century, likely above pre-existing 12th-13th century structures. It faces a square with a statue of the local religious figure Sallustio Bandini.

The Palazzo Salimbeni 

We found the bus station and managed to buy the tickets we needed, they were surprizingly cheap we thought.  Not that easy as the ticket clerk had even less English than we had Italian.  This was strange because everywhere we had gone English was readily spoken.

We continued our meandering en route to another large church, the Basilica of San Francesco.  We passed some unusual things on the way there.

This came as a bit of a sruprise

A beautiful light in Siena's colours

A band leaving the Basilica of San Francesco

The Basilica of San Francesco was erected in about 1228-1255 and later enlarged in the 14th-15th centuries. The building is a large rectangular hall with a wider section at the top end.  It is rather sparsely furnished following a fire in 1655 and restoration of 1885-1892.  It is quite a contrast with the ornateness of the Duomo.

The rather plain frontage to the Basilica

The inside with the familiar black and white marble

A striking rose window

The stained glass window behind the altar

The B and B owners were very helpful in telling us about good local restaurants and we never had a bad meal in the evening.  There was always plenty of choice on the menus making the decision the more difficult.