Siena Duomo

Next stop was old friend Siena, where we wanted to see the cathedral again and just walk around the town and the great piazza. There's plenty more in Siena, but we'd done most of it in 2011 or 2013. The cathedral, the floor, the Piccolomini Library, the Pisano sculpture, the chapel of Bernini figures, all make this a most special place. Apologies for duplicates of previous posts/pix: it's that good.

The nave portion of the great, ancient marble floor was uncovered; and I took pix
of nearly everything that would fit in my lens

Ditto the great Piccolomini Library, here one of the eight large
panels depicting the life of favorite son Pius II

Ceiling thereof all by Team Pinturicchio; some of the best

It is a library after all

Another panel

Unusual dorsal view of the Three Graces; the middle Grace
usually gets so little attention

Back to the floor; the Battle of Romano

Massacre of Innocents

Crossing view

Pisano pulpit; one of the greatest

View astern

Interior cupola

Up closer

Up closest

Pisano pulpit Hell

In a side chapel, exquisite Bernini St. Jerome

Ditto Mary Magdalene, showing lots of leg

Artsy-fartsy view

The massive stern window; not a rose, but, most unusually, the Last Supper

Still processing this one

Another of the floor Sybils; don't ask me why the Roman Catholic world was so
intrigued by them in the Renaissance

A minor Michaelangelo lost amidst all the other brilliance

Complete floor plan poster, showing all the marble inlay figures

Antico Arezzo

There are many things to see in Arezzo...Francesa's Legend of the True Cross fresco cycle, a Petrarch house, a Cimabuie crucifix at the San Domenico church, Vasari's house, and more. We were there for the monthly antiques show, however, having seen all the rest. (See http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2017/11/arezzo-2017.html for previous visits). Not that we are buying--just there are so many curiosities and interesting things at such markets.  We stayed at the local sosta and ventured into town both Saturday and Sunday, the latter by way of the re-discovered scala mobili (escalator) we had enjoyed in 2011. It's a gorgeous town, well mixing the Renaissance and the contemporary.

The antiques fair was founded way back in 1968 (AD), a good year

The public library, with ties to Petrarch, the Medici

Meanwhile, in Sorrento, grand-daughter Penelope in one of the more artful shots ever

The San Domenico church; last time we were there we
bought Girl Scout cookies from the porch

This time, however, it was mostly the Cimabuie crucifix

 

Along the scala mobili

Cathedral; and market

On the big piazza

Blacksmith demonstration (and sale of ironware)

The market begins in the big piazza and then radiates through many streets and
alleys

Quite a show

Verdi At The Orvieto Cathedral

As we walked the nave it was obvious that some major event was unfolding in the chancel: risers, chairs, music stands, instrument cases, all kinds of sound and TV equipment. By the time we finished our tour of the cathedral, the whole symphony, chorus, soloists, technicians, stage hands, and others, had assembled. We sat for quite a while listening to the rehearsal of Verdi's Requiem Mass by the Teatro San Carlos symphony and chorus. That's the Naples opera, folks, the largest house in Italy, as I recall. I'm not a Verdi fan, but it was impossible not to be moved, even transported by such glorious music in such a glorious setting.