Chris had been to Siena, Italy before, but the last time he had taken a train from Florence. For our adventure destination on Thursday, May 14, this time he suggested that we might take the bus. Much cheaper, and actually would deliver us there faster. Siena was a much more ‘traditional’ Tuscan town, nestled in the hilltops about 75 kilometers south of Florence. The first bus out that morning wasn’t until 9:40am, so we didn’t have to get up too ungodly early. We set out on foot at about 8:50 and walked to the bus station, where I had a clandestine meeting with a salame toscano.
On the way to the bus stop, Chris and I made an unscheduled stop at the Palazzo Davanzatito to peek around inside. It was a freebie and Chris had never been around here at this hour so hadn’t been able to check it out. It was erected in the latter half of the 14th century wool magnates in the Davizzi family.
Ready to take a breather in an ancient chair in the Palazzo Davanzati
Looking up through the center of the palace…and there I am
It only took about 90 minutes to get there, which was good because our seats were rather crowded. If only our pesky knees hadn’t gotten in the way. Along the path, the song Attimo by Gianna Nannini made its second of three appearances this week, blaring from the bus driver’s low-tech transistor radio.
We arrived in Siena about 11:15 and immediately made our way to the Santa Maria Assunta, the Duomo di Sienta– simply, the Cathedral of Siena. This gorgeous church was originally built in the 1200’s with the intention of a massive expansion that would have made it the largest cathedral in the world. Unfortunately, that pesky, pesky Black Death got in the way and the project was halted indefinitely. What is now the entire church was intended to merely be one of the transepts. Also what would have been the church’s facade had it been completed now stands as a terrace known as the Facciatone) in the middle of the city and offers a great panoramic view of Siena.
On the streets of Siena
The ticket that we purchased got us into the church, the baptistery, the museo dell’opera, the Facciatone, and the crypt under the church. We began in the church itself, which was obviously eye-catching, and included black and white marble stripes down the walls, beautiful floor mosaics, frescoes, stained glass art, and a very interesting outpouring of thanks to one of the saints, which included a massive display of motorcycle helmets. This was apparently the patron saint of Harley-Davidsons.
In front of the Cathedral of Siena
Glass floors allowed us to glimpse into the crypts below
Inside the lovely cathedral
As an adjunct to the church was the Piccolomini Library, which housed a large collection of large, colorful choir books in a giant room that is adorned in stunning frescoes.
Inside the Piccolomini Library, next to a man who is clearly insane
Chris and a giant hymnal. Is he singing or passing gas? Both sound roughly the same
After we finished checking out the church, we headed over to the Museo Dell’opera del Duomo which includes a wide variety of sacred works from the 1300’s to the 1500’s including the famous Maestà altarpiece created by Duccio di Buoninsegna around 1311. No photos were allowed in the museum, but I was able to capture just one.
Donatello’s Madonna and Child, located in the Duomo Museum
The entrance to the Facciatone walkway (which would have been the original facade to the church that never was – remember?) was through the museum. Chris and I climbed to the top to check out the city of Siena from above. After we were finished up there, we browsed the museum a bit more then checked out the ornate baptistery and the crypts below the church.
Chris and me atop the Facciatone walkway
Overlooking Siena, most prominently the Piazza del Campo (also seen at the top of the posting)
They seemingly build the Siena houses in any old direction. Those silly hillside communities!
It was 2pm by this time and my salame had been completely digested, so we decided to dine at the Ristorante Marsili. This proved to be an interesting choice. It was a buffet with an array of dishes spread out on one large table. Mostly everything was served cold. Whether it was intended to be that way was debatable. Overall not too bad, but a bit disappointing nonetheless. The house red wine helped make everything palatable.
Food in Siena. It wasn’t bad, but it was no Taco Bell
Mostly what we did after lunch for the next hour and a half was just walk around Siena. We strolled into the courtyard of the Palazzo Chigi Saracini, noticed a group of tourists and decided not to go inside the building. It is currently a music museum known as the Accademia Musicale Chigiana.
We also headed over to the giant Piazza del Campo and checked out the courtyard of the Palazzo Pubblico (seen at the top of the posting), which contained a revolving display of artwork. Again, we didn’t go into this palace either. We also chose not to go up into the tall palace tower since we had already had the great view of Sienna when we were in the Facciatone. The Piazza del Campo was a bit of a tourist destination as the Palio di Siena horse race is held here twice a year, drawing in thousands of spectators from all over the world. But we saw no horses on this day.
We continued our long walk to the outskirts of the city to the Piazza del Mercato and around to the Basilica Santa Maria dei Servi. From here, we had a nice view of the city, but photographs were difficult thanks to the stupid sun, by which we sustain life.
The altar piece in the Basilica Santa Maria dei Servi Incoronation of the Virgin and Saints by Bernardino Fungai
Siena from afar. The three main focal points in the photo are the Facciatone (intended facade, now turned walkway) and the bell tower of the Duomo di Siena, and finally more of Italy under construction (or perhaps a version of Space Mountain)
As we walked back into town, I noticed that it was 4:21pm, which meant that it was time to stop for a gelato. We chose the Brivado Gelataria, which had the most fun-loving Italian girls that I had seen thus far. I enjoyed watching them sing and stomp to the music as they prepared my banana and pistacchio coned treat.
The tempting lure of unlimited gelato
Our final stop of the day was to see the head of Saint Catherine of Siena in the Basilica of San Domenico. Typically, the consumption of a gelato cone isn’t necessarily followed by the viewing of a human head, but since we were in Siena and it was a famous head, I made an exception. You may recall that I mentioned that during my visit to Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, I saw the body of Saint Catherine minus the head. As legend has it, when Catherine died in Rome, the people of Siena wanted to have her body buried in their city. They knew they couldn’t smuggle the whole body out of Rome, so they opted to just take her head. When they were caught by guards and asked to open the case containing the head, they found only rose petals. However, when then returned to Siena, the entire head had materialized. And here it has sat since 1383. And despite a stocky guard woman who hated cameras, I got a picture with it.
With the head of St. Catherine of Siena, the bright white object in the middle
So with gelato in my belly and thoughts of disembodied heads in my brain, we boarded our bus back to Florence around 5:00. I nodded off during the journey and rumor has it I tried to rest my weary cheek on Chris’ shoulder. We got back to Florence around 7:00 and walked back to the apartment, stopping at the Loggia del Mercato Nuovo to get a picture with the famous boar Porcellino that hangs out there. Each morning we had passed this marketplace and saw the vendors setting up for the day, and each evening we had seen them closing shop for the night. What happened in the middle, I cannot say.
With a reproduction of the 16th century Fontana del Porcellino (Fountain of the Piglet) by Pietro Tacca – situated on the rear side of the Loggia del Mercato (note the vendors closing up shop). The original boar is located in the Pitti Palace.
We didn’t waste much time at the apartment before we snatched up Sarah and headed out again for dinner in a nice non-traditional Italian eatery called The House of Sizzle. I enjoyed a hearty mushroom burger and the hot waitress named Barbara. After we ate dinner, we stopped off at one of the internet cafes to check Facebook, email, and train schedules for the next day. The Tangeman household’s wireless internet had gone kaplooie.
Chris barks out orders to the group as to where we would be eating that night…
The House of Sizzle! Sarah realizes that her side order of fries was unnecessary
Even Italians can’t get enough Facebook
Chris and I also picked up a bottle of Corte Alle Mura 2007 Chianti at the Asian market. It sucked. Tasted carbonated. But what did we expect for 4.5 Euros? That evening as we sucked down the carbonated wine, we watched National Lampoon’s European Vacation. Get it? We were in Europe…although Italy wasn’t covered in the film at all. It was still fun to see my old pal Jason Lively, who I had just met less than a month earlier.
After a hard day’s journey, kicking back with some crummy vino and the crummiest of the Vacation movies
Up next: our last trip away from Florence…
The Cathedral of Siena is beautiful. Those are some great pictures.
Dave Chasteen
July 11th, 2009
I think it’s funny that you mention this song Attimo by Gianna Nannini. I have absolutely no idea what it is.
The color of the roofs of Siena comes from the same place as the color “sienna”. Remember Bob Ross’s burnt sienna? It’s a limestone clay that’s used in pigments and is found around Siena, among other places.
Chris
July 11th, 2009
You can get some really good cheap wine in Italy. Some of our friends used to always go to a wine seller who would fill empty bottles that we brought with wines from among about 10-20 casks he had at his shop. It was always good and usually cheaper. Come back next week and we’ll try it.
Chris
July 11th, 2009
I remember Bob Ross. He always had burnt sienna on his palate to paint ‘happy little trees’. That is a neat fact to know where the name came from.
Dave Chasteen
July 11th, 2009