Siena Cathedral, 2013

It is large, old, historic, has interesting architecture, the best of all cathedral floors, and a great deal of world-class art. Plus it's atmospheric, visceral even, one of those special places, no matter how crowded. Our 2011 posts were http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/06/siena-duomo.html, and http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/06/but-wait-theres-more-siena-duomo-museum.html.

Facade; Gothic; Zebraesque...

The west window, a highly unusual Last Supper

The best thing about this visit was that the entire floor--all
of it in-laid Medieval/Renaissance marble marquetry--was,
this day, uncovered; here a zodiac

One of the complete set of Sybils that cover
the outer edges of the floor: the dog is
saying "Let's us canines and felines be
friends, now and forevermore"; the cat is
saying "Sure, Fido, just as soon as I scratch
your eyes out"

Another, um, mythological scene

And another

A battle scene: "only a flesh wound!"

Absalom volunteering for pike target practice; seriously,
every square inch of the floor is covered in these gorgeous
marbles

The great crossing dome

The Pisanos' monumental pulpit

In the starboard chapel, Bernini's exquisite
Mary Magdalen; same ecstatic pose as
the opposite St. Jerome; but showing lots
more leg

In the apse now, showing the Virtues; here, Temperance (just
having one); wait, no, Vicki says this was Prudence

Choir; incredible illusionary woodwork...

Thus, for example

A favorite perspective at Siena, at the crossing, by the pulpit,
looking up to the dome

Ceiling of the Piccolomini Library

With its dozen or so huge, colorful, detailed
frescoes of the life of Cardinal Piccolomini, later
Pope Pius II, by Pinturrichio; early 16th

Siena, 2013

It's difficult to leave Florence, but our clock is running down, and we wanted to ensure plenty of time for Rome and all the wonderful places on the Bay of Naples. So we decamped and headed for Siena, Florence's great rival in days of yore, a place we visited in 2011 (http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/06/siena.html), and earlier too. Our goal was simply to walk around and take in the historical center, then to visit the great cathedral with all its art.

In the great central piazza

Thus; we skipped a great deal, satisfied with our 2011 visit

Including the Baptistry and its Donatellos, et al.

And the Duomo Museum (are they returning to work on the
14th century expansion plans?!) with 

Duccio's Maesta and other masterpieces

Content to take in sights en route to and from the Duomo

Thus

Florence Out-takes, 2013

You walk around town for a week (we did take one administrative day, for laundry, provisions, rest) and you see a few curiosities and other things that don't quite fit the, um, narrative...

They'll be back in 2014

Probably not a case of "beans in their ears"

Ponte Vecchio gold shop model of the Ponte Vecchio

Florence has many 12th and 13th century
towers; often they're just adjoined to another,
modern building

Darwine t-shirt

Watchdog

At the Uffizi, Vicki said get a picture of the
police in their funny uniforms; so I asked
these two to pose

Shoe store near San Lorenzo

The contagion spreads...

For ablutions?

The old-fashioned way...nice stuff too

Not so nice, at an up-scale shop

Perfect parallel parking prize of the day

The antipasti station at Antico Ristoro di Cambi

A vacant building papered in phony dollar bills--a protest
again (US) capitalism, we wondered?

Of course there was a running event going on one of the
days we were there

A great year...

Always in style

Coat of arms of the Bottiglia family

We camped at Florence Park Scandicci, 241 Via di Scandicci;
12 euros a night; when you turn down the alley, turn right,
ignoring the nice young man who will tell you it's for storage
only and enticing you to his sosta, same everything, for
20 euros a night; bus #6 runs 3 or 4 times an hour and gets
you to centro storico in 12-15 minutes

Santa Croce, 2013

Our last big stop in Florence was Santa Croce, about which we blogged in 2011 at http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/06/san-croce.html. Here are just a few additional items.

Santa Croce from the Duomo

A better shot of the 14th century Donatello
Crucifixion that scared people

Yes, Santa Croce is the one that is sort of the national
pantheon of heroes...

Stern view, beautifully-painted timbered roof;
note the cat-walk that goes all the way around

Bardi Chapel, Giotto, early 14th

Agnolo Gaddi's late 14th frescoes of The Finding of the True
Cross are still being worked on, but promise to be brilliant
when done

Correction department, again: a Donatello
Annunciation; not Donatellos tomb

In the Brunellechi-designed Pazzi Chapel; more harmony,
geometry, pietra serena, etc.

Some of the ceiling, including della Robbias of the Evangelists

And what remains, after the 1966 floods, of Santa Croce's
July 4, 1442, skies...

Double-decker cloister, designed by
Brunelleschi

In the refectory, Taddeo Gaddi's Last Supper and Crucifixion
Tree

Spanish Chapel, 2013

In 2011, I incorporated a number of pix from the Spanish Chapel in the Santa Maria Novella post, http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/06/santa-maria-novella.html. Understandably, since the chapel is a side-bar, off the cloister, from the main church. It's where the Spanish courtiers gathered. Anyhow, the frescoes covering its walls and ceiling are by Andrea di Bonauti, done between 1365-1370, and they are some of the most striking and complex of all, celebrating, mostly, the Dominicans. Here are a few in addition to what I posted in 2011.

First, possibly, a correction of something I posted in 2011:
starting at the left, the guy in the brown cloak is Cimabue,
Giotto's teacher; Giotto is next to him, in profile, in the green
hood; further right, in purple, holding a book, Boccaccio;
above him, in white hood, is Petrarch; further right of him,
in white cap, is Dante; yes, this will be on the quiz

The Florence Duomo...but wait...this representation has
flying buttresses...it was painted from a model of what the
under-construction church would look like; as observed
elsewhere, though they have their share of Gothic churches,
the Florentines thought flying buttresses unsightly and
avoided them

From the opposite wall, which is all about
St. Thomas stomping on infidels, heretics,
et al., here is Aristotle, representing philosophy

And from the ceiling, St. Lunkerus, patron saint of  fly fisherman

After Santa Maria Novella, we did our obligatory visit to the
market

And, on the way to Santa Croce, stopped by
the Orsanmichelle; here, Donatello's St. Mark
(or possibly St. Matthew, St. Luke, or St.
John; or possibly someone else)