Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Siena

All the guidebooks say that if you're going to fall in love with Italy, it will probably be in Siena. There are a number of other towns and cities where that could happen, not to mention the countryside and coasts, and the Alps, but I'd agree that Siena is a pretty good candidate. It is certainly one of our favorite places and especially its duomo. We drove the blue roads to Siena from Arezzo, enjoying the hilly countryside, found our camper-stop (at length), and spent the rest of the day in town. And then the next day too before departing for San Jimmie-Johnnie and Volterra.
Siena's famous Piazza del Campo















And its Palazzo Publico



















In the Palazzo Pubblico museum, a quick and clandestine shot
of part of Lorezetti's great classic, The Effects of Good
Government; Rachel and Will note; there is also the Effects
of Bad Government, and also a fairly famous Maesta among
the other treasures


















From the Palazzo's balcony, looking out over a small part
of the city; note color















And up at the great tower















Moving right along, and after a lot of searching for a museum
that turned out to be closed for renovation, we are now in the
Piazza del Duomo, about to enter the Santa Maria della Scala
complex, the city's hospital and social services agency in
Renaissance times; noted, as fitting a republic, for taking
responsibility for the welfare of its citizens; it is now a giant
museum



















In its Sala dei Pellegrinao, one of Domenico di Bartolo's
dozen or so giant (secular!) wall murals depicting the good
works of the hospital; note the fat priest with nothing to do but
hear a confession...

















The building burrows several stories down into the tufa,
dug out by Etruscans, and there displays its extensive Etruscan
collection
















As I have already observed, the Etruscans did some nice metal
work, but little else besides dying into these little sarcophagi,
which all look pretty much the same; to me
















Well, evidently they ate well, even without
pasta and tomato sauce and gelato




















Speaking of which, mountains of gelato...















And cute pasta for the American college
students

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