June 24-26

SIENA!

Assisi was nice, but it was the type of place that you go to enjoy the landscape and not stay there for more than a day or to. So being in Siena was almost the best of both worlds! It was still very small, but there was more to do and see there.

We woke up the morning of the 24th and traveled to Siena. We had been hearing a lot about it because Seb would tell us how much he loved it there. Once we got there, we literally walked through the entire city of Siena that was inside the walls to our hotel. We stayed there for a little while to get settled in, and then went out to get oriented to the city. For the next couple days, we did so much walking through the city and shopping, I am just going to talk of my favorite excursion.

My favorite one of our excursions was going to the Siena Duomo. This Duomo was just so different than any other Cathedral we had previously been in.

"The Duomo's unique black-and-white striped campanile dates from 1313, but reflects the Romanesque style. The tall, square belltower has increasing numbers of round-headed arcades with each level and culminates in a pyramid-shaped roof."

"The impressive vault of the library, also painted by Pinturicchio (c.1502), is ornately decorated with grotesques, scenes from classical mythology, and a variety of putti, satyrs, nymphs and tritons. The three large squares in the center depict the Rape of Proserpine, the Piccolomini coat of arms, and Diana and Endymion."

"The nave arcades, with rest on pillars with engaged columns of black and white marble, are very tall with round arches. There is no triforium. The walls of the clerestory have black-and-white stripes to match the pillars. Some of the nave capitals, which feature phytomorphic sculptures, are though to have been sculpted by Giovanni Pisano while he worked on the pulpit in the 1260s."

I really loved Siena! I would definitely go back. I think we could have spent a day or two more there, but that is about it. However, for our purposes, I think we spend the right amount of time there, and I am really happy we were able to go there!