Trips

Mon., 6/29/15 - Chianciano and Siena
            Our bus dropped us outside the 20-foot high fortress walls of the city of Siena.  When the Medici family conquered Siena they built the huge fortress to show their power.  Florence and Siena have been adversaries ever since.
            The first stop on our walking tour with a local guide, Maria, was at the Basilica of St. Dominic.  It was built in the 1200’s and had some fading frescoes but modern stained glass windows (no photos).   The church holds some relics: the skull and right thumb of St. Catherine. 
              We stopped outside the Siena Cathedral - the Duomo - one of the most magnificent churches in Italy - and Bishop’s palace built in the 1300’s.  It is part Romanesque and part Gothic built of bricks with a marble facing, bronze doors, and mosaics up top.  Inside seemed strange with fancy marble designs in the floor but black and white horizontal stripes in the pillars.   There are some old stained-glass windows and Pope Francis’ coat of arms.  A side altar has four statues of saints, at least one (Saint Paul) by Michelangelo, the face of which is his.

Fortress Walls of Siena	Fortress Walls of Siena
Basilica of Saint Dominic	Basilica of Saint Dominic
Cathedral of Siena or Duomo	Cathedral of Siena or Duomo
Cathedral of Siena or Duomo	Cathedral of Siena or Duomo
Cathedral of Siena or Duomo	Flags of the 17 Contrade or neighborhoods
Cathedral of Siena	Cathedral of Siena - Michelangelo"s St. Paul
Cathedral of Siena	Cathedral of Siena
Cathedral of Siena - She-Wolf of Siena	Cathedral of Siena
Cathedral of Siena	Cathedral of Siena
Cathedral of Siena
We visited the fabulous artwork in the Libreria Piccolomini.  Popes Pius 2 and 3 commissioned the works by Raphael and Pinturicchio.  Old books and Bibles and music chants were on display in the library.             There was so much artwork in the Duomo it was overpowering.
Cathedral of Siena - Libreria Piccolomini	Cathedral of Siena - Libreria Piccolomini
Cathedral of Siena - Libreria Piccolomini	Cathedral of Siena - doors
Cathedral of Siena - Bell Tower	Twice a year, July 2 and August 16, Siena holds a crazy horse race called the Palio.  It has been held every year since the 1500’s with all of the regalia that maintain the tradition – costumes, parades, flags, neighborhood rivalry, etc.  The city of Siena owns the horses and each of the 17 districts or neighborhoods chooses a professional jockey.  Only 10 horses can race at a time, therefore there are two races annually.  Today the first 10 districts to race were chosen and a horse assigned by lottery to each of those ten.  The horse numbers are put in one bin and the 17 regions in another.  A horse is drawn and then the region to which it is assigned.  We watched the drawings live on TV as we ate lunch.  Some district representatives were joyful as they were assigned a “good” horse and others were not so happy.  From now until July 2 the jockeys get to practice with their horse on the track morning and evening.  The track runs around the Plaza de Campo.  The cobblestones are covered with 6 to 8 inches of packed dirt that is put down for the race and then removed and then reinstalled for the August running.  The horses run three times around the square.  There seem to be few or no rules.  The jockeys ride bareback and can pull another jockey off a horse or cut him off.  A horse can win without a jockey on its back.  The region of the winning horse celebrates all year. We walked on the track and saw the wooden stands being erected and flags of the various neighborhoods hanging from every building.
Siena - clock	Mangia Tower in the Piazza del Campo or Palazzo Pubblico
Piazza del Campo	Piazza del Campo - with dirt down for the Palio
Order of start for the Palio	Mangia Tower
Contrada or neighborhood flag	Street scene
Looking over the rooftops	Samples
Contradas or neighborhood flags	Contradas or neighborhood flags
Contrada or neighborhood flag	Getting ready to feed the neighborhood
San Marco Gate	We ate lunch behind the City Hall at La Finestra, walked around some more, and then walked up and down the cobblestone streets to San Marco Gate and found our bus.             Fernando gave us each almond and lemon cookies, a specialty of Siena.  Siena was a very interesting optional tour and included a lot of walking up and down its steep, winding streets.             Dinner tonight was near the base of old town Chianciano.

Continue on next page