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May 30, 2012: Florence, Italy: Day Two |
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May 28, 2012: Florence, Italy: Day One |
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Return to the Index for Our Week in Florence and Rome |
Today is our first full day in Florence, and we will spend it by taking a bus tour to two towns south of here- Siena and San Gimignano. Greg had looked online at available tours, so we knew where to go to buy our tickets and catch the bus; it was right back over by the train station. We had a bit of breakfast at Casa Rovai and then headed off to the embarkation point.
The Bus Ride to Siena
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It was hard for me to tell which way were going when we got out to the highway, although now I can see the relationship of Siena to Florence. I had the impression we were going east, but in fact we were headed south.
The trip down to Siena took about an hour. The day cleared up and there were some decent views of the Italian countryside between the two cities. Use the clickable thumnbnails below to see a few of the pictures that Fred took out the window of the bus as we rode down to Siena:
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About ten-thirty, we came into a bus parking area on the west side of Siena, near some of the old city walls.
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Our Walk Through Siena
A Capsule History of Siena
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The oldest aristocratic families in Siena date their line to the Lombards' surrender in 774 to Charlemagne. At this point, the city was inundated with a swarm of Frankish overseers who married into the existing Sienese nobility and left a legacy that can be seen in the abbeys they founded throughout Sienese territory. Feudal power waned however, and by the death of Countess Matilda in 1115 the border territory of the Mark of Tuscia which had been under the control of her family, the Canossa, broke up into several autonomous regions. This ultimately resulted in the creation of the Republic of Siena.
The Republic existed for over four hundreds years, from the late 11th century until the year 1555. At the Italian War, the republic was defeated by the rival Duchy of Florence in alliance with the Spanish crown. After 18 months of resistance, the Republic of Siena surrendered to Spain on 17 April 1555, marking its end. The new Spanish King Philip, owing huge sums to the Medici, ceded the former republic (apart a series of coastal fortresses annexed to the State of Presidi) to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to which it belonged until the unification of Italy in the 19th century.
The picturesque city of Siena remains an important cultural center, especially for humanist disciplines.
With that history in mind, let's begin our tour of Siena.
To the Gates of Siena
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We only walked across the southern edge of the park to get over to the town, but we did see some interesting things on the way. One was an interesting sculpture of mare and foal (see picture at left). (Fred also got a closeup of the sculpture.
The park's most prominent statue is the equestrian statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi. This work was installed in 1911 on the 50th anniversary of the Unification of Italy (1861). It was made by Raffaello Romanelli, an italian sculptor. On the relief in the base of this statue is the symbol of Siena, Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome, being cared for by a she-wolf. This statue is situated just south of the War Memorial, which is dedicated to the Italians from the province who have lost their lives in the two world wars.
At the east side of the park we crossed the street and came south just a bit where our tour guide stopped to tell us a bit about Siena and set the timing for our walk through town. I knew that we would probably not stick close to her all through the tour, so we simply asked and found out that we would be meeting up again in the Piazza Il Campo (perhaps Siena's most iconic location) at 3PM.
Following Via Malavolti to Piazza Salimbeni
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Behind the Bandini statue in the picture at left is the Palazzo Salimbeni, a notable building and also the medieval headquarters of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, one of the oldest banks in continuous existence and a major player in the Sienese economy. Palazza Salimbeni dates from the mid-14th century, and is the dominant feature of the piazza. In 1879 it was restored and enlarged in the neo-Gothic style by Giuseppe Partini. Monte dei Paschi is one of the Italy's principal banks, established in 1624 by incorporating the Monte Pio bank which had been founded in 1472.
The name "Monte dei Paschi" is derived from the Italian word "pascoli," meaning "pastures." The bank's financial operations were guaranteed by the income from the pastures of the Maremma district, which at the time belonged to the state. To the right of Palazzo Salimbeni is the Palazzo Spannocchi, built in the Renaissance style by the Florentine architect, Giuliano da Maiano in 1470, but completed with the façade in this piazza in 1880 by Giuseppe Partini. Opposite that building is Palazzo Cantucci, built in 1548 by Bartolomeo Neroni.
Fred took some interesting pictures of the building details here in the Piazza, and you can use the clickable thumbnails below to look at some of them:
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An interesting piece of Siena's history is exemplified here in Piazza Salimbeni. Centuries ago, Siena, like many Italian towns, had a relatively small number of extended "families" or "contrada." These families typically lived in contiguous areas that were served by a shared water source. These contrada may have been extended by the import of husbands or wives from other places, but each traditional contrada boundary maintained a "nuclear" relationship based on the sharing of a daily water source.
The necessity and meaning of this water-source-based identity is long gone, but the "contrada fountains" continue to provide a successful means of incorporating traditional Contrada membership into modern life. In the 20th century, and the 21st, the enduring connection of individual Senese to their historical water system is symbolized by their baptismal initiation on their contrada’s annual Saint’s Day and at their contrada's "fountain." This festival occasion brings families and neighbors together to celebrate their relationships to one another and to their community. So these "fountains" (which are not always water sources), established in the latter half of the 20th century, serve the purpose of bringing communities together.
One of the original contradas was named "Drago." Although the actual family is long gone, the members of that community inaugurated their "fountain" in 1977. Fountains usually incorporated a totemic dragon- one of the symbols of the Province of Siena- but the Drago fountain, created by sculptor Vico Consorti, does not feature one. Rather, it depicts a boy playing a game of “pallone,” racing a collection of balls. In the statue, the only ball actually bearing colors is the winning one, carrying Drago’s red and green.
We left Piazza Salimbeni by a street named Banchi di Sopra to continue into old Siena. At this point, we were headed in the direction of Piazza del Campo.
Following Via Banchi di Sopra to Piazza del Campo
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(Although many scholars relate the name of the town to the son of Remus, other etymologies derive the name from the Etruscan family name "Saina," the Roman family name of the "Saenii," or the Latin word "senex" ("old") or the derived form "seneo", "to be old".)
On the west, the piazza is dominated by the splendid Palazzo Tolomei. The palazzo was built around the middle of the 1200s to house the Clique of the Tolomei (the powerful Sienese family hostile to the Salimberi) and later rebuilt after a ruinous fire. It has a refined façade with bifora (two-arched) windows and a large living room on the ground floor that we can see today. On the opposite side of the square the neo-classical façade of the Church of Saint Christopher stands out. The church is among the oldest in Siena, and between the twelfth and thirteenth century was the seat of the great Council of the Republic, the Council of the Bell. The church was notably damaged by the earthquake of 1798; today the church has a new facade, including new sculptures, but has been made somewhat shorter. The cloister annex to the church, probably from the beginning of the 1200s, was also heavily altered during the restoration of 1921.
Further down from Piazza Tolomei, we came to an intersection with the the street that is one block away from Piazza del Campo; it formed an semi-circle around that plaza. Six or seven passageways lead through this block to the Piazza del Campo. We'll follow one in a minute, but first we want to go into the next block to see the elegant Loggia della Mercanzia.
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Designed by Sano di Matteo and Pietro del Minella between 1417 and 1428, the Gothic-Renaissance Loggia della Mercanzia is composed of a spacious loggia with three arches supported above richly adorned columns and capitols. The loggia also has an incredibly beautiful ceiling. The original construction was extended in the 17th century with the addition of tabernacles placed against the supporting columns, containing 15th century statues by Vecchietta, who sculpted a St. Paul in 1458 and a St. Peter in 1460. You can see both Saint Paul and Saint Peter here. Antonio Federighi is responsible for the St. Savino, the St. Ansano and the St. Vittore, all sculpted between 1456 and 1463. The marble slabs within the loggia are decorated with reliefs: illustrious Romans and cardinal virtues.
We returned to the passageway just north of the loggia, and headed into Piazza del Campo.
Morning in Piazza del Campo
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Looking Around Piazza del Campo |
The Piazza del Campo was and remains the focal point of public life in the City. From the piazza, eleven narrow shaded streets radiate into the city.
The palazzi signorili that line the square, housing prominent families of the Sansedoni, have unified rooflines, in contrast to earlier tower houses— emblems of communal strife. (We will see some of these tower houses later on today when we visit San Gimignano.) The statutes of Siena implemented an early set of architectural restrictions, such as many communities have today:
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The morning light was not conducive to good pictures of the Torre Mangia; the one at left was the best of those we took. Fortunately, we'll be meeting back here to meet up with out tour guide again later today, and I hope we will get better pictures then. Fred did get up close to the base of the tower to photograph the sculptures on its columns. He also took some good pictures around the plaza this morning- notably of some of the decorative features of the Torre Mangia. You can use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at some of them:
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The third major element in the Piazza (aside from the Torre and the Palazzi) is the Fonte Gaia ("Fountain of Joy"), built in 1419 as an endpoint of the system of conduits bringing water to the city's centre.
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For my part, I did one of my panoramic views of the fountain- stitched together from four separate pictures. That view is below:
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Piazza del Campo to the Duomo
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About fifteen minutes down Via di Citti we came to a side street to the right named Via del Castoro. This led us directly towards the Duomo. Just before coming out into the plaza that surrounds the large Cathedral, we passed through what looked like an incomplete church facade. As it turned out, that was pretty much what it was. But at some point, a parapet was put up on top, and from that vantage point there are incredible views out across Siena. A bit later on, we'll find out about this, and of course will have to make our way up there to check it out.
Piazza del Duomo and the Duomo di Siena
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| History |
The origins of the first structure are obscure and shrouded in legend. There was a 9th century church with bishop's palace at the present location. In December 1058 a synod was held in that church resulting in the election of pope Nicholas II and the deposition of the antipope Benedict X. In 1196, the construction of a new cathedral was begun with the north-south transcept. By 1215 there were already daily masses said in the new church. There are records from 1226 onwards of the transport of black and white marble, probably for the construction of the façade and the bell tower. The vaults and the transept were constructed in 1259-1260. In 1264, a copper sphere was put on top of the dome.
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 centered on the high altar. The construction was begun but halted just a few years later because of 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 of the extension remain, and it was this outer wall that we came through on Via del Castoro. The floor of the uncompleted nave is now covered by a parking lot and a museum. As we came through the wall, we could easily see where stained glass windows would have been.
As we came through the archway of this incomplete wall, we could see the cathedral ahead of us, along with its four major architectural elements- the facade, nave, bell tower and dome. You can see the view that presented itself to us here.
| The Facade |
The facade of the Duomo is one of the most fascinating in all of Italy and certainly one of the most impressive sights in Siena. Each of the cardinal points (west, east, north, and south) has its own distinct work; by far the most impressive of these is the West Facade. Acting as the main entryway to the Duomo proper, it boasts three portals- the central one is capped by a bronzework sun.
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As we learn about the facade, you might want to see some of Fred's excellent views of it; use the clickable thumbnails below to do so:
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Pisano was able to oversee his work until about 1296 when he abruptly left Siena, reportedly over creative differences with the Opera del Duomo, the group that oversaw the construction and maintenance of the Siena cathedrals. His work on the lower facade continued under Camino di Crescentino, but a number of changes were made to the original plan. These included raising the facade due to the raising of the nave of the church and the instillation of a larger rose window commissioned by the city of Siena. Work on the West Facade came to an abrupt end in 1317 when the Opera del Duomo redirected all efforts to the East Facade.
Most scholars agree that the upper facade was finished sometime between 1360 and 1370; Pisano’s plans were again used, but with some adaptations made by Giovanni di Cecco. Di Cecco preferred more elaborate designs; also, the facade needed to be much higher than foreseen as the nave had, once again, been raised. It is commonly assumed that the changes needed to accommodate the raised nave and di Cecco's more elaborate design scheme, caused the apparent division of the upper portion of the cathedral. Most noticeably the pinnacles of the upper portion do not continue from the columns flanking the central portal as they normally would in such cathedrals. Instead they are substantially offset, resulting in an uncommon vertical discontinuity; this can lead to structural weakness. To compensate, the towers on each side of the cathedral were opened and lightened by adding windows.
While most of the sculpture decorating the lower level of the lavish facade was sculpted by Pisano and depicted prophets, philosophers and apostles, the more Gothic statuary adorning the upper portion, including the half-length statues of the patriarchs in the niches around the rose window, are works of later, unattributed, sculptors. Almost all the statuary adorning the cathedral today are copies. The originals are kept in the Duomo Museum behind and to the right of the Cathedral.
Three large mosaics on the gables of the façade were made in Venice in 1878. The large central mosaic is the "Coronation of the Virgin;" the smaller mosaics on each side are the "Nativity of Jesus" and the "Presentation of Mary in the Temple." The bronze central door is a recent addition to the cathedral, replacing the original wooden one. The large door was commissioned in 1946 near the end of the German occupation of Siena. The scenes on the door represent the Glorification of the Virgin, Siena’s patron saint. On the left corner pier of the facade is a 14th century inscription marking Pisano's grave. Next to the façade stands a column with a statue of a wolf breast-feeding Romulus and Remus. According to local legend, Senius and Aschius, sons of Remus and founders of Siena, stole the statue from the Temple of Apollo in Rome.
| The Nave |
The interior of the Sienna Duomo was, perhaps, the most ornate, most richly-decorated, and most interesting of any cathedral we have been in on any of our cruises and trips- and even surpasses those that I had visited in the years I was traveling on business. We'll spend a fair amount of time here because there was so much to see (so much that we weren't able to see all of it).
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In the Nave of the Siena Duomo |
The interior of the Cathedral is complex in its design, for all the apparent simplicy of the main nave and transcept. Having a copy of the plan here will help you distinguish the various parts of the cathedral that we visited.
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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 round stained‑glass window in the façade dates from 1549 and represents the Last Supper. It is the work of Pastorino de' Pastorini.
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The hexagonal dome is topped with Bernini's gilded lantern, like a golden sun. The trompe l'oeil coffers were painted in blue with golden stars in the late 15th century. Fred was able to get pretty much right under the dome and use his zoom to see up into the interior of the cupola, where the blue star motif was repeated. You can see that view here. The colonnade in the drum is adorned with images and statues of 42 patriarchs and prophets, painted in 1481. The eight stucco statues in the spandrels beneath the dome were sculpted in 1490 by Ventura di Giuliano and Bastiano di Francesco. Originally they were polychromed, but later, in 1704, gilded. You can see a couple more pictures of some other of these statues here and here.
We walked towards the front of the church to the point where we could see the marble high altar of the presbytery; it was built in 1532 by Baldassarre Peruzzi. The enormous bronze ciborium to the left of the altar is the work of Vecchietta; it was originally commissioned for a church across the square, but it was brought to the cathedral in 1506. Against the pillars of the presbytery there are eight candelabras in the form of angels by Domenico Beccafumi (1548–1550); he also painted the frescoes, representing Saints and Paradise, on the walls in the apse. These frescoes along with other paintings, wooden choir stalls, statues and busts all created in the 14th and 15th centuries, decorate the apse.
| Pulpit |
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There are eight outer columns made of granite, porphyry and green marble that are supported alternately on flat bases and lions.
| Mosaic Floor |
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 fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries, and about forty artists made their contribution.
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The uncovered floor can only be seen for a period of six to ten weeks each year; the rest of the year, they are covered and only a few are on display. The earliest panel was probably the Wheel of Fortune, laid in 1372 and restored in 1864. The She-Wolf of Siena with the emblems of the confederate cities probably dates from 1373, also restored in 1864. The Four Virtues (Temperanza, Prudenza, Giustizia and Fortezza) and Mercy (Misericordia) date from 1406, as established by a payment made to Marchese d'Adamo and his fellow workers. They were the craftsmen who executed the cartoons of Sienese painters.
Among the earliest panels where "The Story of King David" (c. 1415), "David the Psalmist" (c. 1419), and David and Goliath (c. 1422), all by del Cori. Paolo di Martino completed the "Victory of Joshua" and "Victory of Samson over the Philistines" between 1424 and 1426. Over the next 50 years, three or four more panels were completed, but when Alberto Aringhieri was appointed superintendent of the works in 1480, the mosaic floor scheme began to make serious progress. Between 1481 and 1483 the ten panels of the Sibyls were worked out. A few are ascribed to eminent artists, such as Matteo di Giovanni (The Samian Sibyl), Neroccio di Bartolomeo de' Landi ( Hellespontine Sibyl) and Benvenuto di Giovanni (Albunenan Sibyl). The Cumaean, Delphic, Persian and Phrygian Sibyls are from the hand of the obscure German artist Vito di Marco. Over the next 10 years about 10 more panels were added, but then work slowed somewhat. "The Story of Fortuna" by Pinturicchio was the last one commissioned by Aringhieri; it was completed in 1504.
Domenico Beccafumi, the most renowned Sienese artist of his time, worked on panels for the floor during the years 1518–1547. Half of the thirteen "Scenes from the Life of Elijah" were designed by him, and by 1547 he had completed six more. This completed the floor and, save for restoration, it looks today as it looked in the middle of the sixteenth century.
| Works of Art |
The cathedral itself was, to me, a work of art. It would seem that no expense had been spared to make the interior as ornate as possible- from the marble floors to the dome. And there were a large number of artworks and sculptures around the walls. The cathedral's valuable pieces of art including The Feast of Herod by Donatello, and works by Bernini and the young Michelangelo make it an extraordinary museum of Italian sculpture. The Annunciation between St. Ansanus and St. Margaret, a masterwork of Gothic painting by Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, decorated a side altar of the church until 1799, when it was moved to the Uffizi of Florence.
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The funeral monument for cardinal Riccardo Petroni was erected between 1317 and 1318 by the Sienese sculptor Tino di Camaino. He had succeeded his father as the master builder of the Siena cathedral. The marble monument in the left transept is the earliest example of 14th century funeral architecture. It is composed of a richly decorated sarcophagus, held aloft on the shoulders of four statues. Above the sarcophagus, two angels draw apart a curtain, revealing the cardinal lying on his deathbed, accompanied by two guardian angels. The monument is crowned by a spired tabernacle with statues of the Madonna and Child, Saint Peter and Saint Paul.
The Piccolomini altar, left of the entrance to the library, is the work of the Lombard sculptor Andrea Bregno in 1483. This altarpiece is remarkable because of the four sculptures in the lower niches, made by the young Michelangelo between 1501 and 1504: Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Gregory (with the help of an assistant) and Saint Pius. On top of the altar is the Madonna and Child, a sculpture (probably) by Jacopo della Quercia.
| Chapel of Saint John the Baptist |
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The Chapel was roped off and we could not get into it, and our long-distance pictures of the bronze statue did not turn out. It was very beautiful, so I have found a picture of it to include here. That picture is at left.
| The Chigi Chapel |
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Two of the four marble sculptures in the niches, are by Bernini himself: Saint Jerome and Mary Magdalene. The other two are Saint Bernardine (Antonio Raggi) and Saint Catherine of Siena (Ercole Ferrata). The eight marble columns are originally from the Lateran Palace in Rome. The bronze gate at the entrance is by Giovanni Artusi. The chapel was very crowded with visitors, and it was tough to take the time to get good pictures of some of these sculptures.
| Piccolomini Library |
Adjoining the cathedral is the Piccolomini library, housing precious illuminated choir books and frescoes painted by the Umbrian Bernardino di Betto, called Pinturicchio, probably based on designs by Raphael. The library was off to the side, entered through a
carved marble portal.
The portal itself was very ornate with statues and carvings on either side. You can see these sculptures
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here.
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Below are clickable thumbnails for some other views of the ceiling and frescoes:
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Pinturicchio painted the cycle of frescoes around the library between 1502 and 1507, representing Raphael and himself in several of them. This masterpiece is full of striking detail and vivacious colours. Each scene is explained in Latin by the text below. They depict ten remarkable events from the secular and religious career of pope Pius II, first as a high prelate, then bishop, a cardinal and ultimately pope:
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While I had taken pictures of a few of the frescoes (the three thumbnails above), Fred had been cataloging the rest of them. I've tried to relate them to the list above, but without the inscriptions below them, I am just guessing. But the frescoes are all very pretty, and you can use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at them:
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Beneath the frescoes, the psalters of the cathedral's sacristy are on display. These exquisite illuminations by Liberale da Verona and Girolamo da Cremona were executed between 1466 and 1478 and later carried on by other Sienese illuminators.
| Baptistry |
Unlike Florence or Pisa, Siena did not build a separate baptistry. The baptistry is located underneath the eastern bays of the choir of the Duomo. The construction of the interior was largely performed under Camaino di Crescentino and was completed about 1325. The main attraction is the hexagonal baptismal font, containing sculptures by Donatello, Jacopo della Quercia and others.
Atop the Wall of the Unfinished Nave
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To actually get out on top of the unfinished nave wall, though, you had to ascend a very narrow circular stone stairway- so narrow that it was effectively a one-way set of stairs.
The views from the top were well worth the wait to go up; there are clickable thumbnails below for some of these views:
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As I said, the views from the top were tremendous; you can see from the aerial view you've been following that these views were unobstructed. So both of us took panoramic pictures. Fred stitched a couple of pictures together to show you the view to the east:
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I did another panorama- this one a 360° view from this parapet. It is very wide, so I have put it in the scrollable window below:
It was really amazing up here, although a bit disconcerting when I thought that I was standing on a stone wall, a hundred feet up in the air, about eight feet wide built four centuries ago. No structural steel inside. Just a little freaky.
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I took a couple of good still pictures from here- one of the cathedral and one of Fred with the Torre del Mangia in the background. Use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at them:
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When we first came up, we'd been asked to limit our stay, and so it was time to head back to the narrow, circular stairway for the trip back down.
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Fred and I were the last of our group to head down. I went ahead of him so I could make a movie on the way down, so that you could see just how narrow and winding the stairs were. You can watch my movie with the player at right.
When we got back down to the museum level, and came out into the display hall again, lo and behold we found most of the rest of the tour group, including Greg, sitting and waiting their turn to go up. So we thought we would just hang around the museum for a bit and wait for them to come down.
I told Fred that since we had museum entries, I was going to go into the galleries for a bit- after each of us took advantage of the facilities in the basement. When I was done, I went up to the main gallery to have a look at the stained glass window that had been brought here from the cathedral- the Rose Window. There was no photography allwed in the museum, but I really wanted a picture, so I surreptitiously tried to aim my camera from waist level and I turned off the flash. I hoped the picture would come out; the result wasn't particularly good, but you can have a look at the Rose Window here. Upstairs, in a brighter gallery, I tried the same thing with one of the frescoes. That effort turned out much better, and you can have a look at that fresco here.
Then I looked around for Fred. No luck. I went back upstairs to where Greg would have come out. No luck there, either. I checked the museum entrance and exit, and actually waited at the exit for fifteen minutes or so. No luck then, either. So I either had to wait longer or head off on my own. I wasn't worried, for we'd been given a reassembly time back in Piazza del Campo, and I knew that if I didn't encounter Fred or Greg or the tour group before then, I would be able to meet them there. So, not knowing where Fred and Greg and the group had gone, I headed off on my own.
Fred: From the Duomo to Piazza del Campo
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In any event, when I saw their pictures, I could see that Greg and Fred had walked up and down the narrow, closed-in street and passageways that are southeast of Piazza del Campo and east of the Duomo. Some were crowded, others almost deserted. But Fred found color as well, and I particularly liked his pictures of some fruit outside a small shop. I fit a couple of those pictures together into this mini-panorama:
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While I enjoyed my own walk, I could see from Fred's pictures of street scenes and architectural detail that the area he and Greg covered in their walk was certainly an interesting one.
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To view the slideshow, just click on the image at left and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.
My Walk from the Duomo to Piazza del Campo
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I turned south on Via del Sperandie, and found myself walking alongside a large building that seemed to be either a city building or police headquarters or something like that. An inscription below a bas‑relief on the side of the building seemed to refer to the contrada of Chiocciola, but I could not be sure. I found the long, narrow, sloping street interesting for the two arches that I went under. Both contained rooms within the arch and above the street. The first arch had two stories above the street, connecting the buildings on either side. The second arch, seen here looking back from the south, had only one story. It can be easily seen in the aerial view that you have been following (and I have marked it for you). Incidentally, in that last picture, you can see the first arch as you look through the second.
As I turned the corner to the west at the southern end of the street, I found myself on a street at the western edge of Siena. The border between the town and the countryside was very abrupt; Siena on this side sits on top of a large hill, and has commanding views in all directions. It wasn't hard to imagine living in the fortified town a thousand years ago, with the farms and farmhouses outside the walls- but close enough so that people not in the town could get to safety quickly.
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Going back inside the gate, I discovered that the street was Via San Marco, and there were helpful signs pointing to the Duomo, back in the center of town. I headed back into town on Via San Marco, and in just a few blocks came to the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary. Built by the Contrada of Chiocciola (the Snail) 1655-1656, it was restored and enlarged in 1722-1725 it was restored and enlarged with the money from the proceeds of one of the horse races in Piazza del Campo. Its late Baroque façade spectacular was designed by Giacomo Franchini and enriched by decorations added by Pietro d'Austo Montini. The church, decorated on the upper level of the facade with a very faded fresco of the Virgin and Child by Francisco Feliciati, was deconsecrated in 1820 and then abandoned by the Contrada. In recent years, it was repurposed for use in conjunction with the races in Piazza del Campo, and for this reason it is also called "Casa del Caballo."
I continued up Via San Marco, crossed my previous path, and headed more directly back to Via di Citta. I retraced my path for just a short distance and kept heading for Piazza del Campo. On Via di Citta, a block southeast of the Duomo, I came to Palazzo Chigi-Saracini.
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The oldest part of the palace belonged to the Ghibelline Marescotti family Marescotti, and dates back to the twelfth century. The building reached its present size during the first half of the fourteenth century, at the height of the Siena's economic fortune; between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries it also housed the Council of Rulers of the Republic.
In the following centuries it was a center of the Renaissance in Siena, supported by a number of families. In 1770 the family Saracini became its prime benefactors and they made significant renovations, keeping the fourteenth-century style and adding a row of three lights up the alley of the Trone. In 1932, Count Guido Chigi Saracini established the Accademia Musicale Chigiana which today is an internationally prestigious center for the improvement of musical studies. The Saracinis lived there until 1965.
Like many structures in old Siena, the front of the building is curved to follow the course of the street. The style of the facade is an elegant "Gothic Siena," clad in stone to the second floor and then brick. There are orders of mullioned windows and on the left a truncated tower of stone. Today the building also houses the art collection of Bernardo Saracini, which began in 1776.
In the open hall stands a statue of Julius III, designed by Fulvio Signorini in 1609. There is also a beautiful courtyard that you can enter at the end of that open hall. Here, surrounded by beautiful doorways and numerous sculptures, is the palazzo's original well. The well is permanently covered by an iron grate, and is obviously no longer used.
My walk had brought me back to Via di Citta, just a block off Piazza del Campo, so I went down one of the narrow passageway/streets at the western side of the piazza to locate Fred, Greg and the tour group.
Piazza del Campo
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Piazza del Campo |
I was hungry and noticed a gelato place right at the corner where I was standing, so I got a cone and then walked down to meet Fred, Greg, and the tour group.
Fred, as it turned out, had gotten to the plaze about fifteen minutes earlier, and he had been busy taking some photographs. One of his pictures happened to be looking towards the corner where I was standing while I was making my movie. For his part, Fred had been taking pictures of the outside of the Torre Mangia, and had gone into the courtyard where the tower entrance was to take some pictures there. There are clickable thumbnails below for some of his pictures:
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Fred also had his camera stitch together a nice panorama of the plaza, taken from the same corner where I had been standing earlier:
 Piazza del Campo |
We walked around for a bit in the area, just looking at everything, until our tour guide gathered us together for the walk back to the parked bus.
Leaving Siena
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On the way back up Via del Bianchi, we got a much better view of the Salustio Bandini monument, as the sun was full on it now. That is the inset picture at left. And heading back through the park, we also had a better view of the Garibaldi Monument.
Coming back to the bus, and on the drive out of the parking lot, there were also good views of the old fortress walls, and you can have a look at those views here and here.
The Doors and Doorknobs of Siena
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Of course, while I was noticing the doors, Fred had been concentrating on the knobs- and not just from the same doors. Again, the hardware seemed as individual as the doors; there was a wide variety of both. I have put all our pictures into a slideshow so that you can peruse the pictures easily.
To view the slideshow, just click on the image at left and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.
From Siena to San Gimignano
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When you do open the aerial view, you can find our starting point (the car park) if you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the view. When we get back to the bus after our tour, you can close the window. I'll remind you when we get back.
Our Walk Through San Gimignano
San Gimignano
The city is on the ridge of a hill with its main axis being north/south. It is encircled by three walls and has at its highest point, to the west, the ruins of a fortress dismantled in the 16th century. There are eight entrances into the city, set into the second wall, which dates from the 12th and 13th centuries. The main gates are Porta San Giovanni on the ridge extending south, Porta San Matteo to the north west and Porta S. Jacopo to the north east. The main streets are Via San Matteo and Via San Giovanni, which cross the city from north to south. At the heart of the town are four squares: the Piazza Duomo, on which stands the Collegiate Church; the Piazza della Cisterna, the Piazza Pecori and the Piazza delle Erbe. To the north of the town is another significant square, Piazza Agostino, on which stands the Church of Sant' Agostino. The locations of the Collegiate Church and Sant' Agostino's and their piazzas effectively divide the town into two regions.
I'll be breaking up our walk through the picturesque town of San Gimignano into some rather arbitrary sections- just to make it a bit easier to deal with. Each portion of the walk will have its own section here. We'll begin by getting from the bus parking area to the south gate to the old town.
From the Bus Park to San Gimignano's Porta San Giovanni
We both stopped here to admire the view and take some pictures, and both of us had the same idea- to stitch together some pictures for a panoramic view. Both turned out well; here is the one with the wider view:
 The Countryside East of San Gimignano |
A little further north and our tour guide brought us to a stop just outside Porta San Giovanni so she could make sure we all knew what time to meet back at this same spot for the walk back to the bus and the trip back to Florence.
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After her talk, our guide turned us loose and Greg, Fred and I headed into the old town through Porta San Giovanni. No sooner had we gone through the gate than there was a stairway to our right leading to the San Gimignano Museum. I thought that if there was enough time at the end of our walk, we might check it out.
Just inside the gate, we stopped to take some pictures. Fred got a nice view looking back out the gate to the plaza south of the town, and you can see that view here. I took a picture a little higher up, so that you could see an inside view of the gate. Remember that this is a Medieval town, and there would have to be places for lookouts, guards and, perhaps, defenders, above gates like these.
Now we are inside San Gimignano, at the foot of Via San Matteo, ready to explore.
A Capsule History of San Gimignano
In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance era, the town was a stopping point for Catholic pilgrims on their way to Rome and the Vatican, as it sits on the medieval Via Francigena. The city's development was also improved by the trade of agricultural products from the fertile neighbouring hills, in particular saffron, used in both cooking and dyeing cloth, and Vernaccia wine, said to inspire popes and poets.
In 1199, the city made itself independent from the bishops of Volterra and set about enriching the public spaces with churches and public buildings. However, the peace of the town was disturbed for the next two centuries by conflict between Guelphs and Ghibellines, as well as family rivalries within the town itself. It was these rivalries that resulted in families building tower houses of increasing height; towards the end of the Medieval period they were 72 in number and up to 230 feet tall. The rivalry was finally restrained when it was ordained by the council that no tower was to be taller than that adjacent to the Palazzo Comunale.
The city flourished until 1348, when it was struck by the Black Death that affected all of Europe, and about half the townsfolk died. Severely weakened, the town submitted to the rule of Florence. During this period, some Gothic palazzo were built in the Florentine style, and many of the towers were reduced to the height of the houses. There was little subsequent development, and San Gimignano remained preserved in its medieval state until the 19th century, when its status as a tourist destination and artistic resort began to be recognized.
Via San Matteo from Porta San Giovanni to Piazza della Cisterna
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We began to stroll up the street taking in all the scenery (and the doors and doorknobs). At one point, we came to a piece of art, the likes of which you would not be likely to see in public anywhere in the United States. It was very interesting, and that is why I had Fred pose for that picture. It was standing in front of a nearby building which could have been a museum, although I saw no signage. At another point, Fred couldn't resist a picture of a quirky shop that seemed to be pairing wine and wild boar (to what end I have no idea). About halfway between the Porta San Giovanni (which you can see down the street behind me here) and a tower that I stopped to film, there was a wide area in the street with some welcome sunlight, and it appeared to be a haven for artists.
Below are clickable thumbnails for some pictures that Fred took along Via San Matteo:
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Walking up the street was a lot of fun, but it was hard to take pictures sometimes, since the sunlight rarely filtered down into the street itself.
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Just past that tower, the street jogged right and headed toward another tower and the Arc of Becci, an ancient city gate. That tunnel leads to the Piazza della Cisterna. Before we went through that arch, I took some pictures of the approach and the buildings and streets on either side; there are clickable thumbnails below for some of these pictures:
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Piazza della Cisterna
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On the north side of the piazza are the Cortesi Palace, la torre del Diavolo, and the houses of Cattani. The west side is adorned with various towers, like the twin towers of Ardinghelli and the tower of palazzo Pellaro. All of these towers were built by individual families, and still retain the names of those families.
The piazza is located at the intersection of two main streets of the village of San Gimignano: la via Francigena and la via Pisa-Siena. The piazza was used as a market and a stage for festivals and tournaments. Its current layout dates from the thirteenth century.
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The piazza is named after the underground cistern (Cisterna) built in 1287. The cistern is capped by a travertine octagonal pedestal, which was built in 1346 under the mayor Guccio Malavolti and is close to the center of the square. Beyond the cistern, the piazza turns into the road to Siena, and you can see a view looking in that direction here.
You can use the clickable thumbnails below to see some additional views of the medieval buildings that line the piazza on all sides:
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Piazza della Cisterna was a nice place to rest and sit in the sunlight, but we had more to see.
Piazza della Duomo
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Other important buildings on the square include the Palazzo Comunale (the municipal building) and the Palazzo Podesta, the house of the mayor. The Palazzo Podesta is distinguished by its huge arched loggia.
The Palazzo Comunale (the building with the flags in the picture at left) dates from the late 13th century, and was built on the ruins of an existing building between 1289 and 1298. Further expanded in the 14th century, the facade is characterised by arched windows, with the lower half of the frontage built with stone, and the upper part in brick. On the ground floor is a courtyard, which was built in 1323; it is decorated with the coats of arms of those who have held public office in the municipality.
The main civic offices of the town council are located on the ground floor. On the second floor is a stepped gallery from which dignitaries would address the gathered crowd in the square. The battlements date from a restoration of the nineteenth century, and the structure is capped by the "Torre Grossa” (great tower). This tower was completed in 1300 and (at 170 feet) is the highest tower in the walled town.
The most striking feature of this this square, however, must certainly be the towers that surround it. Sitting on the steps of the church, one can see five of them; I would very much like to know what, exactly, is inside of them.
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I also made two movies here in the Piazza della Duomo, although they were made a different times. One was made when the above pictures were taken; the second was made when we returned to the piazza from our visit to the fortress walls northwest of this piazza. Both are good, and show the piazza from different perspectives. You can watch them with the players below:
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Fortress Montestaffoli
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Fred had been taking pictures of the countryside around us as we climbed the stairs, and I have put clickable thumbnails for four of his pictures below:
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From the inside of the fortress, we could get nice views of some of the towers of San Gimignano as we walked toward the north wall.
The Fortress Montestaffoli (seen better in the aerial view below, right) was built in 1353 on the site of a pre-existing Dominican convent. It was built during the time when San Gimignano had aligned itself to Florence. The military significance of the fortress declined during this period, and effectively ended in 1555 when Cosimo I ordered its destruction. The fortress was not totally erased; the walls and corner turrets still remain.
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As you saw in the movie, we were heading towards the stairs up to the fortress walls. We climbed the short flight of stairs to join a couple of other tourists already on top admiring the view.
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We spent quite a few minutes up here on the old fortress walls, just gazing around the hazy countryside and listening to the music wafting up from the plaza below. It was really quite beautiful.
Both of us had the same idea to try our hand at panoramic shots of our surroundings. For mine, I just took four pictures and stitched them together in Photoshop. The way Photoshop does it, everything is straightened, and this was the result:
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I did Fred's a little differently. I used Microsoft's program to put images together because it would retain the slightly "fish-eye" effect that was a bit truer to the way we actually saw the scene. You can compare the two by looking at Fred's panorama below:
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Leaving San Gimignano
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At some point walking down Via San Matteo, I lost Fred. He was behind me one minute, and gone the next. I retraced my path of the last couple of minutes, but did not see him. Thinking he'd bypassed me, I went on ahead outside the Porta San Giovanni, there to find our tour guide and most of our group gathering as instructed earlier. Fred was nowhere to be seen. I was growing a bit anxious, and so I went back up Via San Matteo looking for him and calling out. No Fred. Eventually, the tour guide had to leave with us, and I went along with the group- hoping that Fred would show up. When we got back to the bus, I was relieved to find that Fred had misheard the earlier instructions to meet outside the gate, and had gone directly back to the bus instead. (I might mention that on his way back to the bus, Fred had gotten a very nice picture of the countryside east of the town, and if you want to have a look at it, you can do so by clicking here.)
(Now that we are back at the bus, if you have opened the aerial view of San Gimignano and followed us along, you can close that window now.)
The Doors and Doorknobs of San Gimignano
The Doors of San Gimignano
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The Doorknobs of San Gimignano
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Back to Florence
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Coming into the city, Fred also got a nice shot of some rowers on the Arno River, and you can have a look at that picture here. The bus dropped us where we had boarded this morning, and we walked back through town, past the Duomo, and back to Casa Rovai. We spent some time relaxing and then went out for some dinner- at a local kabob place, as it turned out. (More on the kabob place a bit later.) It was a really nice day, and we saw a lot. Tomorrow, we'll stay in Florence and have a look at the Duomo and museums.
You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.
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May 30, 2012: Florence, Italy: Day Two |
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May 28, 2012: Florence, Italy: Day One |
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Return to the Index for Our Week in Florence and Rome |
