Sienna
Back at the fiery furnace we arrange an
early call for our trip to Sienna.
Rising early in the morning we are at the bus stop ten minutes early, the
bus is about the same margin late. It is siling down. We pile into two buses
leaving one seat empty on each and two people who want to sit together.
The Italian solution to this problem is thirty minutes argument followed by
five other people leaving the bus and demanding their money back. We feel
sure the optimum solution has been missed.
there are four young women from America sitting in front of us who sound as
if they intend the trip to be lively. The one in front of Meg, is the little
pretty one who wears her coat over her head and never stops eating. Her neighbour
is a long legged rastafarian who needs acres of room. The next one is fair,
fat and definitely a stirrer. the fourth is small, dark, curly and totally
quiet.
Daniella (type A) our courier for today issues us with our instructions in
English, Francais, Deutsch and Italiano as we negotiate the hour of Italian
drizzle. As we disembark the drizzle changes to steady rain.
Sienna is old, tall and narrow. It is built on four less hills than Rome.
We park on one but it's no the one we want to visit, so off we trudge following
a microscopic guide supplied by Daniella. Type A's do not go out in the rain.
We pass interesting shops, Palaces, the oldest modern bank,we are told of
cakes, bankers, Dukes and artists, and , in a short time arrive at the cathedral.
This nearly qualifies for the same treatment as the Baptistry doors. The outside
is done in a variety of marbles. The black and white alternate layers of the
bell tower create the world's biggest liquorice allsort. The facade is more
decorated than Chatres. Although the building is huge, it was originally intended
as the transept of a much larger church but eighty percent of the population
were wiped out by the plague in the fourteenth centaury and hence the need
for a larger building. Inside the decoration continues. Three naves divided
by twenty six pairs of liquorice allsort pillars, The floor is completely
covered by fifty graffitti. These are large pictures, some in mosaic and the
others by inlaying marble then scratching grooves and filling the grooves
with pitch. The walls are painted, the dome is bright blue with gold stars.
We enter a side chapel. there's a magnificent painting of the flight into
Egypt on the wall. It's stunning. Why don't I remember seeing pictures of
it? It must be a Raphael!
No it's a Carlo Maratta and it's not even a painting, it's another mosaic.
Well, Well done Carlo. The rest of the party depart leaving me open mouthed.
I catch up with them in front of St John the Baptist by Donatello.
The library is next, ten huge frescos by Pinturicchio who is supposed to have
used sketches by Raphael. The guide tells us that the frescos have never been
restored, the colours are as painted in 1505. Wish they were available to
do our kitchen. She then plays her ace by saying she has saved the cathedral's
greatest artistic work till last. The pulpit by Nicola Pisano, you could look
at it all day. It's importance apart from it's sheer beauty is that he made
the hundreds of carved figures look like real people instead of stylized characters
which had been the custom. In 1266 this was very daring and original. Painting
and sculpture was never the same again. You are by now no doubt feeling that
you are getting more art than is reasonable. Meg and I admired a fair bit
more before returning to the square.
We can't make sufficient time to change the itinerary again this trip, but
Sienna is going to get a trip of it's own one day.
We had been detached from our tour for some time, as they had gone for a meal
scheduled to take one and a half hours. Meg had exclaimed that" she had
not come to Italy to stuff herself with pasta" I take a sideways glance
at the pretty Yank as she does so, her expression is unchanged.
The square is more of a round and is the scene of the annual horse race in
costume between the districts of Sienna. Meg tries to photograph a gymnastic
pigeon that drinks from the fountain by standing on it's head.