Volterra 1

Volterra is one of the older Tuscan hill towns, a member of the Etruscan League, with plenty of Roman remains as well. It has its share of tourists, but mostly independent travelers like us. We liked it sufficiently well to stay a couple days and nights.

Volterra main piazza and Palazzo dei Priori,

said to be the oldest public administration

building in Tuscany; setting up for a crossbow

tournament to be covered in a subsequent post

12th century duomo

Very dark inside and no Divine Illumination

Machine

The main reason we came to Volterra (other

than to see another nice, untrammeled
Tuscan hill town, one that seems to be 
coping gracefully with its fame): Rosso 
Fiorentino's Deposition from the Cross, 
widely regarded as the beginning of 
Mannerism (think Michaelangelo and pals); 
in the Pinacoteca

Closer up

Also Ghirlandaio's Christ in Glory, with its

two adoring Etruscan goddesses

In the fine little Etruscan museum

Etruscan gold work

Me and mini-me

1,000 Days Since Embarcation

So we drove on, eventually landing at a rare Italian lay-by, with a view even

Next morning we drove up to our next stop, Volterra

Looking at our website, as we do every few months, we noticed this (Saturday) 
was our 1,000th day since embarcation, according to the counter gadget there 
installed

So we hiked up the stairs from Volterra's (free) camper-stop, 
took in a bit of the beautiful old town (more later) and

And enjoyed a memorable lunch, wine and bruschetta with tomatoes, and

Sausage pizza for Vicki and wild boar in sausage, olive and 
onion sauce with little polenta cakes for me; reflecting on 
our 1,000 days of travel since September of 2008, and the

next 1,000 days...

Sans Jimmie-Johnny

I should explain that our pronunciation of San Gimignano derives from our years in Texas. (Rickie Stevie is derived, however, from Will Ferrell's Rickie Bobbie). We have visited San Jimmie-Johnny two or three times, and, speaking for myself, have found it a place that does not grow on you. Further, there is no camper parking except a couple miles from the town, a camper-stop where, for 22 euros (32U$D), you can park and take the free shuttle bus to town; when it runs; or, still further out, a parking lot where for 1 euro an hour you can park and take the regional bus back to Jimmie-Johnnie; whenever it runs. I don't mind paying reasonably for something worth seeing. I do mind being gouged for something that is vastly over-rated and that I have seen before. We drove on, probably never to see Jimmie-Johnnie again. So be it.

San Jimmie-Johnny at dusk

Something not in the tourist literature: about a mile from San

Gimignano is one of Italy's largest prisons; do not pick up

hitch-hikers...

But Wait! There's More! Siena Duomo Museum and Baptistry

In the 14th century, the Sienese planned to expand the duomo, making its current nave into the transept, thus creating what would have been (still) by far the largest church in Christendom. But they didn't. (Something about a plague). Anyhow, where the new entrance would have been is (roughly) now the cathedral museum, which contains the treasury, relics, and items removed for preservation.

The original humongous 13th century stained glass window from the east side

Statues, now somewhat weathered, of assorted saints, apostles,demi-gods, et aliud

And another quick and clandestine shot, of probably the most famous painting in 
Siena, Duccio's 1311 Maesta; there are many Maestas in the Christian art world; 
this is the Maesta

Us on the roof of the duomo museum

Looking back to the Piazza del Campo and Palazzo Pubblico

And at the duomo and its great campanile; note that the campanile has an 
increasing number of bays on each floor, ingeniously lightening the load on up...

Meanwhile, back in the museo, an interesting coat of arms 
(nyuk, nyuk,nyuk)

A particularly cheerful display in the reliquary

In the Baptistry, the font by della Quercia

With bronzes by Ghiberti (who bested Brunelleschi for the contract to do the 
doors of the Florence duomo bapistry)

And Donatello

Siena Duomo

The Siena Duomo is surely one of the greatest of cathedrals; Wagner said it was 
the most inspiring buidling he had ever seen and based the stage design of 
Parsifal's Temple of the Holy Grail on it; of course, he really didn't travel all that 
much

Facade

Interior; even with hundreds or thousands of visitors, it is one of those buildings
 that fascinates

Ceiling of the Piccolomini Library, one of several side chapels

The Library celebrates the life of Pope Pius II and is covered 
with Pinturrichio's giant 1509 frescoes

Michaelangelo's sculptures of Peter (above), Paul, Gregory,
and Pius, are almost lost among all the other masterpieces

One of Siena's more notable features is the prominence of in-laid marble scenes 
all over the main floor; here, the slaughter of the innocents; elsewhere, a dozen 
Sibylls; and more biblical scenes

The 13th century pulpit, by Pisano and the father/son team of 
Arnolfo and Giovanni di Cambio

Detail: damnation (of course)

Ceiling; the effect of the light is very different from, say, 
Chartres, but no less engaging

Altar

In a chapel on the south side, four Bernini sculptures, 
including his exquisite St. Jerome

Dome

Closer up

The nave is lined with busts of all the popes, into the 13th century (the pattern 
repeats, however)...

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