Monday June 21 2010

Happy Anniversary Chris and Dan!!
Got somewhat of an early start and headed out for Siena. We packed up with our wet clothes in hopes of finding the laundry on the way home.
With its narrow streets and steep alleys, a stunning Gothic duomo, a ton of Renaissance art, and the beautiful Palazzo Pubblico overlooking the Campo, Siena is sometimes thought of as the best preserved Medieval city.
We began at the Duomo, with its beautiful black and white striping. The magnificent circular stained glass window of the Last Supper, date back to 1288. So the oldest example of this kind of glass in Italy – No kidding!!

It’s been a little difficult for me to wrap my head around some of these dates. It’s been great having Richard with us to clarify and expound.
The Duomo is most famous for its unique inlaid-marble floors which took almost 200 years to complete!! More than 40 artists contributed to the work, made up of 56 separate comostitions depicting biblical scenes and civic emblems. The floors are covered for most of the year for conservation purposes, but are unveiled during September and October – well guess what! It was visible to us!! Fr Douglas said he’s never seen it before! It was unbelievable. We spent some time listening to the explanation of the carousel pulpit. In all, there are over 600 figures carved on it. The pulpit itself is supported by 6 columns, 4 of which rest on carved animal pediments. We weren’t quite sure of the lion devouring horse theme!!
Of great interest and beauty, was the Biblioteca Piccolomini. The frescoes were painted in the 15th century. Amazing and magnificent are pale adjectives for their beauty!!

We had a light lunch and then went in separate directions. Chris & Dan opted for the crypt and baptistery with Len and me. I think the crypt is fairly new (2003?). There was an excavation for the creation of new museum space, when frescoes were found. It was deduced that this was yet another example of churches being built one upon the other. The frescoes depicted various familiar biblical stories. The crypt contained reliquaries and church artifacts, (The duomo contained the right arm of John the Baptist) among which was the original repository for this arm. contains
The baptistery contains frescoes throughout, but the highlight is the large bronze 15th century baptismal font. It’s adorned with bas-reliefs depicting scenes from the life of Christ and John the Baptist. Sculptures of Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice and other virtues formed the corners of this octagonal font.
We arrived back in San Gimignano for dinner at La Castagna and agreed it had been a great day!