Siena, more than a color of crayon

Siena is an hour and half away from Florence by train, and sits on a hill overlooking the Tuscan countryside. It is another walled, medieval city and almost all the buildings and their roofs are a reddish (or Siena) colored. It was fun to walk around the curving streets of the city, which gives it a lot of character, but it helps you appreciate the benefits of centralized city planning.

We stayed in a palazzo that was converted into a bed and breakfast; our room was huge and had ceiling frescoes. This is the view from our window. Every morning, we ate a breakfast of meats, cheeses, tea or coffee, and our favorite, bread and Nutella (why does it have to be so expensive in the US?).

A short walk from our room is the town center called the Piazza Del Campo. It is a shelled shaped piazza made of brick that slopes down towards the Palazzo Pubblico pictured above. Siena is a famous for the Palio, their twice a year horse race that takes circles the Il Campo. Each neighborhood in Siena has their own jockey that races bareback. Lots of people dress up in traditional garb and it looks like an awesome time.

At the top of the Il Campo, opposite the Palazzo Pubblico, is the Gaia Fountain. It was originally created in the mid 1300s, and has had several replacements in the 1400s. Someone took a decent enough picture for us too! (*One of Vince’s pet peeves is the quality of ‘stranger photographers’. Eg. 'You can’t see what we’re trying to take a picture of because it's hidden by us', or 'You can’t even tell that’s us because you’re so far away'. Wish we could BYO photographer.)

The crown jewel of Siena is the Duomo. Pretty impressive from the outside, but even more so on the inside. The exact date of the first church is unclear, but construction of the current cathedral began around 1200. Almost all of the original sculptures created by Pisano are in the adjacent museum to prevent against damage and theft.

Floor to ceiling, it is one of the most elaborate and complete churches we’ve seen. There are striped marble walls and pillars, painted ceilings, carvings of saints and popes, and most importantly the mosaic floors. There are works by Donatello, Bernini, and Michelangelo.

These are just a few samples of the intricate marble floor mosaics that cover the entire Duomo. There are many different religious figures, scenes, and border patterns.

Inside the Duomo is also the Piccolomini Library that contains some amazing frescoes and lot of finely illustrated bibles and religious books encased along the walls.

The Duomo sits on a slope, with the main church at the top. The next level down is a crypt that is part of the original church dated about the 9^th Century. At the very bottom is the Battistero (pictured above), that includes a baptismal fount with some bronze sculptures by Donatello.

We also toured the adjacent museum with many religious works of art including marble sculptures, stained glass windows, paintings, and other religious artifacts. We also got to climb a strange double arched structure for this panoramic view overlooking the Il Campo.