Siena, Tuscany

Siena

Our first day in Tuscany it is full with excitement, because we are visiting the capital of the province of Siena. According to local legend, Siena was founded by Senius and Aschius, the two sons of Remus. After their father's murder by Romulus, they fled Rome on white and black horses. They took the she-wolf as the symbol of their city, and the colours of the horses represent the coat of arms or "balzana".

First visit is through the busy and narrow streets to the cathedral. Hi, cute traveller :P

It is a marble miracle, that makes this cathedral an extraordinary museum of Italian sculpture:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89,144 ... rabbits. My Fibonacci jokes are better, than the last two combined ;)
One of the earliest of the panels is the She-Wolf of Siena, with the emblems of the confederate cities ("Lupa senese e simboli delle città alleate", eee), probably dates back to 1373. And, travel_boy is posing on the chess-board floor:

The floor consists of 56 panels in different sizes. Most have a rectangular shape, but the later ones in the transept are hexagons or rhombuses. They represent the sibyls, scenes from the Old Testament, allegories and virtues.

The floor, and the details on the marble are absolutely epic. The earlier technique was called the graffito technique: drilling tiny holes and scratching lines in the marble and filling these with bitumen or mineral pitch. In a later stage black, white, green, red and blue marble inlay was used. PS: hard to choose a favourite from all the marbles:

The ceiling was painted in blue with golden stars in the late 15th century. Lets just stop here and scroll slowly, and see how this captures you:

The sky felt closer for a little bit, right? ... When we are looking at the stars:

On the way to the Altar, when we thought this couldn't be any more marvellous:

At this point not sure, what I didn't take a picture of. There is no detail or corner, that is without a meaning:

No time for blinking. At least, not for the eyes, only for the camera lenses:

The black and white marble stripes on the walls and columns strike the eye. (The black and white are the symbolic colours of Siena.) Also, camera_boy is in action:

Just another cupola in the cathedral, "nothing to see here":

And more marble, with more veins. These veins are formed by crystallised minerals deposited by water that ran through the stone and evaporated. Let me translate: each dominant crystal has it's typical colour in the marble, imagine when they combine it:

The Piccolomini library, part of the cathedral, is famed for its precious illuminated choir books and beautifully preserved Renaissance frescoes:

In the center of the room stands a sculpture group of the Three Graces:

Our cathedral visit comes to an end, but not so fast: we need to go and check something ;) Spot the happy face after successful book-shopping:

In Siena, all roads lead to Piazza del Campo. It is mostly famous because of Il Palio, a bareback horse race that dates back to the Middle Ages and still takes place on the outer section of the square twice a year. But until then, it's perfect to have a seat and admire the Torre del Mangia, eee:

Special day today, celebrating a very mustache birthday here in Siena. Travel_boy with books and beers waiting for me to hang out with them. I have to go :D