Sienna
We can say that Siena is one of the top 1 place that left the most impressions from this trip and gave us a lot of surprces for the day we spent there.
Like all small towns in Italy, Siena is surrounded by walls and the buildings are decorated with yellow facades, different entrance doors and small terraces decorated with flowers, as well as a lot of historic places which we will present below.
Siena is the 12th largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 53000. The main activities are tourism, services, agriculture, handicrafts and light industry. Over the centuries, Siena has had a rich tradition of arts and artists.
Upon arrival, the city exudes a youthful spirit, because we noticed a lot of local students and generally young people on the streets. We parked outside the old town because of the crowds, then took the escalator, which has 5-6 levels, to the old town.
The city was very lively even from the early morning hours, everything is bustling with tourists. The alleys in the old town are magical.
We could notice that every street had flags hanging on a small stand, we could even see the residents opening their garages and carrying the same flags, trumpets or drums. Not knowing what was coming, we continued wandering through the small streets and absorbing this place.
The one of the main places we wanted to visit in Sienna was Cathedral of Sienna. We bought tickets to enter the cathedral and it's highly recommendable doing it online in advance in order to avoid waiting in the long line. They scheduled our visit for the 3 hours later and we had a plenty of the time to visit other parts of the city and take a bit of break for the lunch.
After walking through streets, we came across nice shops and debating whether to have gelato or lunch, we decided to stop for coffee first in a small cafeteria, where we were greeted with a real cafe atmosphere. Small wooden tables and chairs, and local newspapers were placed on the tables for visitors. I simply could not resist to immerse myself in this event.
Then it was time to visit Siena Cathedral, which exceeded our expectations and, I believe, all visitors as well. The very exterior appearance of the facades of this cathedral depicts the work of great artists who left an unforgettable mark with their work. We recommend spending at least three hours in the Sienna cathedral. At the entrance, we were given a map that helped us visit every corner. Also, in each part of the cathedral there are friendly staff who control that everything runs smoothly so that you can dedicate time and record your impressions with a camera.
Sienna Cathedral is a medieval church dedicated from its earliest days as a Roman Catholic Marian church and now dedicated to the Assumption of Mary.
For centuries the Cathedral acted as more than just a place of worship - it was the center of the city and a place to express civic pride.
The cathedral was started in the 12th century and completed in the 14th century; it is a masterpiece of Italian Romanesque - Gothic architecture.
It has a Latin cross structure, three aisles and a hexagonal dome.
The Cathedral of Sienna contains numerous masterpieces from every age where highlights the striped pillars, decorative ceiling, sculpted reliefs, and marble floors, which is considered as a most prized possession. We heard that the uncovered floor can only be seen for a period of six to ten weeks each year, generally including the month of September. The rest of the year, the pavements near the altar are covered, and only some near the entrance may be viewed.
In the interior the pictorial effect of the black and white marble stripes on the walls and columns catches the eye.
The stained-glass round window depicts the Assumption of the Virgin and it's made by designed of Duccio, which was the Italian painter active in late13th and early 14th century in Tuscany and he was originally from Sienna. He also created a double-sided altarpiece, the Maestá, which illustrated the Madonna Enthroned. These two works presented a unified visual theme that emphasized the Virgin Mary, to whom the Cathedral is dedicated.
The small Chigi Chapel is most luxurious sculptural addition to the Duomo.
Piccolomini Library - has the walls covered with frescoes depicting the ten most important scenes from the life of Pope Pius II, to whom the library is dedicated. The floor is made of blue ceramics with crescent moons. In the center of the room is a marble statue of three smiling women with entwined arms, who are personifications of the three graces. Originally a Greek painting, the famous statue Three Graces is a Roman copy that was bought specifically to be placed in the library.
The next part of the Cathedral was the Cathedral Museum. Also called Museo dell’Opera, is located inside of the north aisle of the New Cathedral on the first level. In the museum you will be able to see a lot of the original works of art that were made for the Siena Cathedral. On this list are the stained-glass Rose Window by Duccio di Buoninsegna, sculptures by Pisano and Donatello, the altarpiece by Duccio di Buoninsegna, and the Treasury.
From the museum, we continued towards the Panorama, where you will more likely come across the crowds of the people waiting on the line, but it is worth the wait, as you will be able to see the best of the panoramic view of the Sienna town and Sienna Cathedral.
Climbing by narrow stairs, you will come to the first level, spend around 5min to capture this part and then back to another stair we reached to the second level of the Panorama.
See below our captures:
This was the end of our visit the Cathedral of Sienna and very inspired of this place, we continued walking back to the parking lot.
However, not everything is as you wish when traveling, fortunately for us. In our case, situations often arise where we find ourselves in the right place at the right time. So here is my life guide "Everything happens for a reason."
Moreover, at one point it seemed to us that there were more and more people on the streets, hurrying in the same direction. Continuing on, we found ourselves at the famous hippodrome and learned from the police that there were guarded horse races taking place on this very day. It's called Palio Di Sienna and held only twice a year, on 2 July and 16 August every year. We stopped, wondering whether to stay or not, but seeing other people giving up, we heard that all the tickets were sold out and headed towards the parking lot, trying to make our way through the crowd.
The way to the parking lot took a while, because we obviously got lost. Considering that all the streets look similar, it's not that difficult in this case. So, we headed back without looking at the map and found ourselves in a real party.
When events like this happen in Italy, in every city, apparently every family has its own team. We found one of this group of people who were getting ready for the horse races to support their rider, performing a show at the meeting point, where they would later return and prepare a big feast for their team and guests.
It was very funny because on the way to the parking lot we bought two large bottles of water, fruit in the store and we dragged all of that with us, following the different groups. There was no longer any idea of leaving this place and not recording this inevitable event.
Following the group in question, we passed through narrow alleys and passages that led us to the very entrance to the Hippodrome but from the side. There we could see a few journalists waiting to enter, but also probably 3000 people who were also waiting. Finally, they opened the gates and when we found out that in fact no one had a ticket and that it was free to attend the competition, there was no end to our happiness.
However, when it was our turn, the police asked Milos to inspect our backpack, which took several minutes, they did not allow bottles to be brought in, both metal and plastic, so we had to leave everything on the side by the door.
And inside, a new experience. Locals who all know each other, only after a few minutes we did realize that everyone was divided into teams, we joined the team where we were currently and cheered on our rider. After an hour of waiting, due to the constant influx of people into this hippodrome that can accommodate up to 50,000 people, the race finally started.
It started first with the introduction of the teams, then the individual presentation of the competitors and horses, followed by applause and choosing a place for each of them, which was followed by ovations from the fans.
Ten horses and riders, bareback and dressed in the appropriate colors, represent ten of the seventeen city wards - called contrade, in a tradition dating back to the 17th-century. The Palio held on 2 July is named Palio di Provenzano, in honor of the Madonna of Provenzano, while on 16 August is named Palio dell 'Assunta, in honor of the Assumption of Mary. The race itself, in which the jockeys ride bareback, circles always in the Piazza del Campo, as captured on the photos.
The race is run for three laps of the piazza and usually lasts no more than 90 seconds.
The start of the race itself took longer, because there were obviously more people, and it disturbed horses who couldn't stand peacefully next to each other, even one player was thrown off of his horse. All the while we noticed the youth around us nervously lighting cigarettes and biting our nails until the race started. Finally, the gun signaled the start of the race and then the emotions took over, cheering, screaming from the fans and finally the sound of the gun again ending the race and declaring the race over. That's when the real commotion started, as some fans started pushing each other, expressing their displeasure, and at that moment we literally gathered our things and headed towards it to find a parking lot and avoid the crowds.
By then it was already getting dark, it was around 9 pm, so we tired but full of impressions headed to the hotel to be rested for the next day.
We were super satisfied with the experience we had this day as it was the one you can see for the lifelong journey.