Siena

September 2011

 

Siena is very different from Seville, our last City break.  Seville is green and open, while Siena is a typical walled city, enclosed, shaded and stone (and brick) coloured. It is also full of View 09.JPGsuperb medieval buildings and stunning churches.

View from Pubblico 04.JPGMedieval City Scape

In some ways the views out of Siena are as famous as the views of Siena. The archetypal Italian hill town, it looks across the glorious Tuscan landscape, shimmering in the heat and punctuated by Cypress trees.  Apparently the City reached its peak in the fourteenth Century and has developed little since, hence its particularly perfect medieval form. Mind you, they did build some impressive walls when they were in the ascendency, and the remaining gates are colossal. Within the walls it doesn’t look as if much has happened for centuries, the result, I suspect of tight planning!

 

 

 

 

Piazza Campo

Campo.JPGThe most famous space in Siena is Piazza Campo, the ‘scallop’ shaped square which is the centre of the city. On one side stands the formidable Palazzo Pubblico, the centre of the republican seat of government. Early in the fourteenth century the town’s merchants and entrepreneurs ousted control of the city from the aristocrats and set up the rather futuristic sounding rule of the Council of the Nine. This massive building was their centre of government. The impressive tower was completed in 1310 and the internal decoration is sumptuous – and morally uplifting. The piazza is also the location for the most famous contemporary Siena spectacle, the Palio. This twice yearly event is a horse race which takes place around the edge of the Campo between riders representing the city’s areas, or Contrade.

Duomo Ext 08.JPG

 

 

 

The Duomo

Baptistry 05.JPGIf Florence cathedral is quite breathtaking at first sight, Siena’s cathedral is even more extraordinary on the inside. We were lucky, in that the ‘pavements’, the mosaic floors, are uncovered during September, being covered most of the year for protection. Entering the wedding cake looking cathedral you are greeted by an interior with every last inch decorated. The fabric is black and white striped marble, the floors elaborate mosaics, the ceilings multi-coloured and gilt covered and the walls covered in frescos, paintings and sculpture. You just don’t know where to look! Then you enter the library and it is time to go for a lie down... Our 10 euro ticket covered not only the cathedral, but the (underground) Baptistery, Crypt and museum (which occupied the ‘unfinished’ wing of the Duomo. Good value for a ticket that occupies you all day.

 

 

 

Hotel 01.JPG

Food & Drink

Siena is in the middle of Chianti country, and the wine dominates the town in a low key manner. The fascinating thing was that even if you asked for white wine, the waiter would think about it and bring us red Chianti anyway! The food was excellent, pasta, wild boar ragout, amazing chicken liver pate... Coffee is espresso, beer cold and refreshing and we rediscovered a love of Campari and soda!

 

Our Tower

We stayed in a suitably medieval hotel on the edges of the University section of town. Antica Torre was small, not as tall as you might think, and very friendly, it provided a friendly, central location with plenty of character.  Once part of a sixteenth century palace, it is rather diminished, but even so I was pleased we were only on the first floor! http://www.anticatorresiena.it/en/hotel-in-siena.html

 

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