Siena, Duomo

     
   

Siena - The Town on Three Hills

 
   

Ancient rival of Florence, Siena, with its numerous monuments - Piazza del Campo with the Palazzo Pubblico and the Torre del Mangia, the Cathedral, the churches of Santa Maria di Provenzano and of San Francesco and the Museo Civico, housing masterpieces by the Masters of the 14th century Sienese School - and with its "Palio", attracts every year thousands of tourists from all over the world.

The gorgeous Sienese countryside is scattered with Medieval hamlets and towns, particularly interesting from a historical, cultural and landscape point of view, such as Monteriggioni, San Gimignano, Montepulciano, Pienza and Montalcino, just to mention the most famous ones.

Siena boasts also a great wine-growing and culinary tradition, whose specialities are the "pici" (a kind of fresh pasta), the "pecorino cheese" produced in the valleys of the province, the "panforte" and the "ricciarelli", Siena`s typical Christmas desserts renowned all over the world.

Art in Tuscany | Siena
Art in Tuscany | Le Crete Senesi

 
   
Siena, Piazza del Campo

Siena is a town raising on three hills in the heart of Tuscany, between the valleys of the rivers Merse, Elsa and Arbia.
Surrounded by the Chianti region on the north and the Crete senesi on the south, Siena is a sort of watershed between so different landscapes such as that of the Chianti region - made of gentle hills covered with olive groves and vineyards for the production of one of the most famous wines in the world - and that of the Crete Senesi - made of sheer and almost plantless hills.
Piazza del Campo is the principal public space of the historic center of Siena, Tuscany, Italy and is one of Europe's greatest medieval squares. It is renowned worldwide for its beauty and architectural integrity. The Palazzo Pubblico and its Torre del Mangia, as well as various palazzi signorili surround the shell-shaped piazza. At the northwest edge is the Fonte Gaia.

The twice-a-year horse-race, Palio di Siena, is held around the edges of the piazza.

History

The open site was a marketplace established before the thirteenth century on a sloping site near the meeting point of the three hillside communities that coalesced to form Siena: the Castellare, the San Martino and the Camollia. Siena may have had earlier Etruscan settlements, but it was not a considerable Roman settlement, and the campo does not lie on the site of a Roman forum, as is sometimes suggested. It was paved in 1349 in fishbone-patterned red brick with ten lines of travertine, which divide the piazza into nine sections, radiating from the mouth of the gavinone (the central water drain) in front of the Palazzo Pubblico. The number of divisions are held to be symbolic of the rule of The Nine (Noveschi) who laid out the campo and governed Siena at the height of its mediaeval splendour between 1292-1355. It was and remains the focal point of public life in the City. From the piazza, eleven narrow shaded streets radiate into the city.[1]

The palazzi signorili that line the square, housing the families of the Sansedoni, the Piccolomini and the Saracini etc, have unified rooflines, in contrast to earlier tower houses — emblems of communal strife — such as may still be seen not far from Siena at San Gimignano. In the statutes of Siena, civic and architectural decorum was ordered :"...it responds to the beauty of the city of Siena and to the satisfaction of almost all people of the same city that any edifices that are to be made anew anywhere along the public thoroughfares...proceed in line with the existent buildings and one building not stand out beyond another, but they shall be disposed and arranged equally so as to be of the greatest beauty for the city."

The unity of these Late Gothic houses is effected in part by the uniformity of the bricks of which their walls are built: brick-making was a monopoly of the commune, which saw to it that standards were maintained. (Ingersoll)

At the foot of the Palazzo Pubblico's wall is the late Gothic Chapel of the Virgin built as an ex voto by the Sienese, after the terrible Black Death of 1348 had ended.

Fonte Gaia

The Fonte Gaia ("Fountain of Joy") was built in 1419 as an endpoint of the system of conduits bringing water to the city's centre, replacing an earlier fountain completed about 1342 when the water conduits were completed. Under the direction of the Committee of Nine, many miles of tunnels were constructed to bring water in aqueducts to fountains and thence to drain to the surrounding fields. The present fountain, a center of attraction for the many tourists, is in the shape of a rectangular basin that is adorned on three sides with many bas-reliefs with the Madonna surrounded by the Classical and the Christian Virtues, emblematic of Good Government under the patronage of the Madonna.[2] The white marble Fonte Gaia was originally designed and built by Jacopo della Quercia, whose bas-reliefs from the basin's sides are conserved in the Ospedale di St. Maria della Scala in Piazza Duomo. The former sculptures were replaced in 1866 by free copies by Tito Sarocchi, who omitted Jacopo della Quercia's two nude statues of Rhea Silvia and Acca Larentia, which the nineteenth-century city fathers found too pagan or too nude. When they were set up in 1419, Jacopo della Quercia's nude figures were the first two female nudes, who were neither Eve nor a repentant saint, to stand in a public place since Antiquity.

Mosaic floor
The marble pavement of the Duomo of Siena, mosaics depicting the She-Wolf of Siena with Romulus and Remus, or Aschius and Senius
The inlaid marble mosaic floor of the Duomo 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.
The uncovered floor pf the Duomo can only be seen for a period of six to ten weeks each year, generally including the month of September. 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 (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 and Mercy 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. The first known artist working on the panels, was Domenico di Niccolò dei Cori, who was in charge of the cathedral between 1413 and 1423. We can ascribe to him several panels such as the Story of King David, David the Psalmist and David and Goliath. His successor as superintendent, Paolo di Martino, completed between 1424 and 1426 the Victory of Joshua and Victory of Samson over the Philistines. In 1434 the renowned painter Domenico di Bartolo continued with a new panel Emperor Sigismund Enthroned. The Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund was popular in Siena, because he resided there for ten months on his way to Rome for his coronation. Next to this panel, is the composition in 1447 (probably) by Pietro di Tommaso del Minella of the Death of Absolom. The next panel dates from 1473: Stories from the Life of Judith and the Liberation of Bethulia (probably) by Urbano da Cortona.

In 1480 Alberto Aringhieri was appointed superintendent of the works. From then on, 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. The Erythraean Sibyl was originally by Antonio Federighi, the Libyan Sibyl by the painter Guidoccio Cozzarelli, but both have been extensively renovated. The large panel in the transept The Slaughter of the Innocents is probably the work of Matteo di Giovanni in 1481. The large panel below, the Expulsion of Herod, was designed by Benvenuto di Giovanni in 1484-1485. The Story of Fortuna, or Hill of Virtue, by Pinturicchio in 1504, was the last one commissioned by Aringhieri. This panel also gives a depiction of Socrates. Domenico Beccafumi, the most renowned Sienese artist of his time, worked on cartoons for the floor during thirty years (1518-1547). Half of the thirteen Scenes from the Life of Elijah, in the transept of the cathedral, were designed by him (two hexagons and two rhombuses). The eight meter long frieze Moses Striking water from the Rock was executed by him in 1525. The bordering panel, Moses on Mount Sinai was laid in 1531. His final contribution was the panel in front of the main altar: the Sacrifice of Isaac (1547).
 
 
   

Siena Medioevale. L’architettura civile | Medieval Siena. Civil Architecture

People should look up towards the sky more, especially when walking through the streets of Siena. Not just for mystical reasons, but also for a purely aesthetic one: so as to be able to contemplate and enjoy the sight of the dozens of palaces that adorn the historic center, some majestic and readily visible, others almost disguised by a ground floor that has grown featureless. These are signs of a harmonious and evocative architecture, but also a witness to history, to the ups-and-downs of powerful families and the riches, sometimes fleeting, other times more long-lasting, brought by commerce and the skill of Sienese bankers. Following the progression of marble cornices, towers that once soared in a gesture of challenge, and prestigious two-light and three-light windows, is like entering a museum of the Gothic style, Sienese Gothic to be precise, which towards the end of the thirteenth century defined the urban face of the city, thanks to the Tolomei, Salimbeni, Saracini, Marescotti, Malavolti and other families. To the detriment of the much harsher-looking tower house, often a marker of power whose verticality characterized the silhouette of the city seen from the surrounding countryside, here we have the triumph of the palace in a period when pacification was being sought as a reaction to the bitter political battles of the past between Guelphs and Ghibellines. It is in this period that public patronage picked up again, with the definitive decision by the Government of the Nine on the site where the seat of communal government would be built.
Development continued with the idea of enlarging the cathedral, extending the city walls with the construction of imposing gates, and building a new aqueduct. Even at a time of profound crisis and transformation of the city’s economic fabric, there was an acceleration in public works, marked by commissions for art works like Duccio’s Maestà or Lorenzetti’s Good Government frescoes, the building of the Mangia Tower and the Baptistery, and the reshaping of Piazza del Campo, where the water from the city drainage system would come to the surface. A development that is almost a paradox, but underlying it is a deep civic sense, which emerges also in the publication in the vulgate of the Constituto, containing precise rules for houses and palaces. These are manifestations of a desire to affirm – no matter what, even in times of trial – the Sienese identity, a care for aesthetics and functionality that can be found also in private buildings; one of the most representational examples of this is Palazzo Sansedoni, the home of our Foundation.
This phenomenon has known only one period of parenthesis, the second half of the fourteenth century, which was a dark period for civil architecture in Siena. The crisis continued until the middle of the fifteenth century, when there was a strong resurgence of private initiative. Siena Medioevale, L’architettura civile retraces this course. It is a history of urban space, but also of people and society, which accompanies us through Siena’s evolution by presenting its squares, streets, fountains, monuments, palaces, and walls, an urban space that has survived to our day largely intact. It pays tribute to our forebears who made the Middle Ages in Siena not a dark period, but a time of enlightened creativity, handing down to us a precious heritage that we have chosen to immortalize in some way with this new volume that joins its predecessors in the fruitful series of books published by the Foundation.

"Siena medioevale. L’architettura civile" (Medieval Siena. Civil Architecture), edited by Fabio Gabbrielli, is divided into five chapters:“Towers and Tower Houses. The Marks of Power in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries”; “The Early Thirteenth Century and the Age of the Ghibellines. Houses, Palaces, and Public Works (1200-1270)”; “The City of the Mercatores and the Birth of Sienese Gothic (1270-1300)”; “The Fourteenth Century, Major Public Works and the Gothic Style under the Nine”; and “Gothic Palaces and Fortifications in Fifteenth-Century Siena”.
The book, consisting of 176 pages, is extensively illustrated with photos by Andrea Sbardellati and published by Protagon Editori.

   

[1] According to medieval legend, Siena’s founder was Remulus’s son Senio, who fled rome with his brother Aschio. They carried a carving of a she wolf, which became the symbol of Siena. Romulus’s knights followed the lads until they reached the hill known as Siena Vecchia, where, after a race known as ”Palio alla Lunga” Senio and Aschio founded the city.

It is also said that Siena traces the origin of its name back to the Etruscan Saina tribe, the Roman family Saenii or the Latin senex translated as old. The first records known of inhabitants of the region refer to the Saina tribe, an Etruscan group which also peopled other towns of Tuscany, approximately between 900BC and 400 BC.
The well developed Etruscan civilization modified many aspects of central Italy geography and introduced innovations in building. They used to construct innovative irrigation systems to take advantage of land which had been previously infertile and constructed their villages on the hillside.
Many have pointed out fascinating analogies between the first Palios and the equestrian games of the Etruscans and earlier still of the Greeks. In Poggio Civitate, not far from Siena, there is a fragment of pediment, from the 6th century b.c., showing a series of horsemen lined up, riding bareback like today's jockeys and, like their modern counterparts, they are equiped with riding crops and hats, all set to run their Etruscan Palio.
Siena lies today where Saena Julia, a Roman settlements sat during the rule of Augustus. Saena Julia is recorded for the first time in a Roman document in 70AD. The Saenones, a tribe from Gaul are said to have had the power of the town for a period.

Art in Tuscany | The foundation of Siena

  
Siena. c. 1410. Bronze wolf by Giovanni di Turino on a classical column outside the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. 1427



Tuscany is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Known for its enchanting landscapes, its fantastic and genuine food and beautiful towns as Florence, Pisa, Lucca and Siena.
Podere Santa Pia is an enchanting Tuscan farmhouse, nestled in the vineyards and olive groves of the rolling Maremma hills. This privileged location offers a spectacular vista over the charming medieval town of Cinigiano and the entire Ombrone Valley. Travel guides on Tuscany have often overlooked the area covered by the Comune of Ciinigiano, and most continue to do so, thereby guaranteeing the preservation of its genuine nature, but also slowing awareness in the general public of one of the best-situated and best-preserved corners of southern Tuscany.
Podere Santa Pia consists of 4 large bedrooms furnished in a classic Tuscan style and 2 bathroom with shower, a big full-equipment kitchen with a fireplace and a big living room and dining room. With its original kitchen and the wood burning pizza oven, Podere Santa Pia offers an upbeat atmosphere. The farmhouse has been renovated and provided with all modern comforts (satellite TV, Wi-Fi Internet access, washing machine, dishwasher, and so on), with an eye to preserve the typical and charming elements of these rural lodgings. There you have, then, cosy and warm rooms with traditional terracotta-tiled floors, stone walls and wood-beamed ceilings. And the kitchen, furnished for pleasant meals with traditional Tuscan dishes (bread soup or "ribollita", tomato soup, "fettunta", Florentine-style steak, stewed wild boar, cinta senese cured meat, and other Tuscan specialities).
The impressive garden (9000 square mt.) allows you to enjoy a relaxing holiday and is perfect for taking time out and lounging about while sipping on a glass of local wines, Montecucco DOC and Brunello DOC.
Sitting in the garden, one can enjoy our dawns and dusks, with their jubilee of colours ranging from dark yellow to pink, orange and red. In this scenario, it is often possible to observe the flight of pheasants, falcons and buzzards, great tits, chaffinches and sparrows.
This is an enchanting place far from noise, ideal to regenerate body and mind, where one has the opportunity enjoy pleasant walks or rides on mountain bike. The summer breeze that caresses Podere Santa Pia guarantees "cool" holidays even in the hottest weather.

Tuscan farmhouses | Podere Santa Pia
 
         

Monte Oliveto Maggiore abbey

Abbey of Sant 'Antimo

Montalcino
         

Banfi, Castello di Poggio alle Mura,
view from Podere Santa Pia

Castello Colle Massari,
view from Podere Santa Pia

Castel Porrona, a charming medieval village dating back to the 11th century, between Cinigiano and Castiglioncello Bandini and Podere Santa Pia
         

From Piazza del Campo to the Duomo Along Via di Città

From Piazza del Campo, considered neutral ground by the inhabitants of Siena on account of its location directly between the three hills on which the city stands, Vicolo San Pietro to the right of Fonte Gaia leads to the Croce del Travaglio, the arrival point of the three main streets of Siena: Via Banchi di Sopra, Via Banchi di Sotto and Via di Città.
Formerly known as Via Galgaria, Via di Città is Siena’s main street and symbolically connects its political centre, Piazza del Campo and the Palazzo Pubblico, with the religious fulcrum embodied by Piazza del Duomo and the cathedral. The street is lined by magnificent Medieval palazzi, such as Palazzo Monaldi, Palazzo Crocini and Palazzo Patrizi, which houses the Accademia degli Intronati. A little further up, directly opposite Palazzo Chigi-Saracini, stands Palazzo Piccolomini, also known as Palazzo delle Papesse and built by order of Caterina Piccolomini, sister of Pope Pius II. Possibly designed by Bernardo Rossellino, the Palazzo Piccolomini was constructed between 1460 and 1495 in the Florentine Renaissance style. Its stone facade is in bush-hammered stone and today the building houses a contemporary arts centre.

Still further up Via di Città there are a number of other important town houses, including Palazzo Marsili, built in the 15th century in the gothic style by Luca di Bartolo Lupini, or the 15th century Palazzo Marsilia-Libelli, the design of which has been attributed by some to Vecchietta, while others believe the building was planed by Urbano da Cortona. Eventually Via di Città opens onto Piazza di Postierla, better known as Quattro Cantoni because the four main streets of the Terzo di Città quarter also arrive at this point.
Off to the right of Quattro Cantoni is Via del Capitano, flanked by the late-16th century Palazzo Chigi alla Postierla and Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo, now Piccolomini-Clementini, built at the end of the 18th century and substantially restored in 1854.

Via del Capitano leads to Piazza del Duomo, whose deserted, silent atmosphere dominated by the vast marble Duomo is a marked contrast with the remainder of the city. Consecrated to the Assumption, the cathedral was started in the 12th century, probably on the site of an existing church.
Opposite the stands the ancient Spedale di Santa Maria della Scala, a hospital during the Middle Ages that has today been transformed into a cultural centre. The left flank of the Duomo opens onto a quiet little square that is closed in on the opposite side by the facade of the Palazzo Arcivescovile archbishop’s palace, built in the gothic style in the 18th century. On the right hand side of the cathedral a large square occupies what should have the front section of the Duomo, which was never completed. The so-called facciatone internal facade of the Duomo opens onto the square and some of the archways that were intended as part of the right hand nave of the new church have been closed off. They now house the Museo dell’Opera Metropolitana, with 14th and 15th century Senese School master paintings and sculptures.

A steep marble staircase leading out from the Museo dell’Opera Metropolitana leads to the lower section of the cathedral and in turn to Piazza San Giovanni, with the facade of the Baptistery built between 1316 and 1325, dedicated to St John the Baptist and decorated in the same coloured marble motifs as the cathedral itself. Directly to the right of the Baptistery stands the Palazzo del Magnifico, the magnificent residence of Pandolfo Petrucci, who effectively ruled over Siena from 1487 to 1512. The palazzo is on the corner with Via dei Pellegrini, which leads back to Piazza del Campo.

Battistero di San Giovanni or St. John Baptistery

Battistero di San Giovanni called also Pieve di San Giovanni is certainly worth a visit, located on the side of the Duomo down the stairs, it houses some of the very finest works of art in Siena.
Although the Baptistery's precise origins remain unclear, its foundations are known to date back to Roman times. It is thought that it dates back to the first half of the 14th century though the oldest section of the building was begun at least 50 years earlier. It was built sometime between 1316 and 1325 and the marble facade was made between 1317 and 1382.
Its purely Gothic facade entirely built with marble was begun in 1317 and continued on until 1382; the upper section of the facade was left unfinished. It occupies a large space beneath the last two bays of the extended choir of the Cathedral and its interior is rectangular in plan, divided into three aisles by two robust pillars. The ceiling is covered with frescoes of the XV century, by Vecchietta, Benvenuto di Giovanni, Pietro di Francesco degli Orioli and Michele di Matteo. In the center of the Baptistry the christening font is placed, the greatest art treasure of the Battistero, made from golden panels that show the life of John the Baptist. A masterpiece of the Early Renaissance (1411-30) the design of which is is attributed to Iacopo della Quercia, with bronze reliefs and sculptures by Ghiberti. The babtistery also contains some excellent works by Donatello, including Herod's Feast and statues representing Hope and Charity. There are eight frescoes by Pinturicchio, commissioned by Alberto Aringhieri, and painted between 1504 and 1505. Two are repainted in the 17th c. and a third was completely replaced in 1868. The original paintings in the chapel are: Nativity of John the Baptist, John the Baptist in the desert and John the Baptist preaching. He also painted two portraits: Aringhieri with the cloak of the Order of the Knights of Malta and Kneeling Knight in Armour.

Address: Piazza San Giovanni, Siena 53100
Open: November-March : 09:00am to 13:30pm.
March-September 09:00am to 19:30pm.
October: 09:00am to 18:00pm.

Offical website | www.operaduomo.siena.it