Notable Times: Europe 6: Sienna in Siena

When Sienna was born, we looked through the "10,000 Baby Names" book and didn't find one that we wanted to use. But some friends who had moved out of our neighborhood had a daughter named Sienna, and we loved that name. Knowing that there was a charming medieval Tuscan hill town in Italy called "Siena" probably helped out. We always wanted to take Sienna there when she graduated from high school, so we were excited to finally make it there.

On July 23, 2022, Linette, Sienna and I arrived in the outskirts of Siena, where we stayed at a family-run place overlooking the Tuscan countryside. We booked it via AirBnB and chose this place in part because it had plenty of free parking for our rental car.

The place had ceilings with exposed beams, which was charming. Sienna didn't expect to like the yellow beds, but they made her strangely happy.

The windows had real, functioning wooden shutters, like most places in Italy, and the view was lovely.

The kitchen had nice-looking wood cabinets that disguised where the fridge and dishwasher were hidden.

There was an ivy-covered gazebo and garden to hang out in, which was nice. I went down and sat on a bench to read scriptures the first morning and that was great.

We didn't go into the town of Siena itself that first night, but did find somewhere to get some dinner before collapsing from our day traveling up from Rome.

Siena

The next morning, we spent the whole day getting to know Siena. We caught a 5-minute bus ride into town from right across the street from our place.

Once in town, we started exploring the town, which has 17 traditional neighborhoods. Each has their own flag and, as shown in this picture, their own distinctive street light fixtures. (This neighborhood uses a fish).

Twice a year, Siena holds a big horse race called the "Palio", and it is a huge deal. It is held in Il Campo, the main square in town, and has been going on since the 1400s (and in its modern form since 1633). Below is a fish-eye picture that was hanging in our kitchen that shows 40,000 people packed into the center, along with people in bleachers and balconies around the outside.

10 of the 17 neighborhoods (contrade) get a chance to participate in each race (the 7 that didn't get to last time, plus 3 randomly-chosen ones). Each uses a randomly-assigned, mixed-breed horse (no purebred horses allowed). After parades and much pomp, the race begins, often with several false starts, as one of the horses is chosen to start things off and often fakes the others out in order to gain an advantage when really starting. The race only lasts 90 seconds, and it is not uncommon for some of the jockeys to be thrown off their horse during the craziness, especially since they ride bareback! It is not uncommon for a riderless horse to cross the finish line.

Unfortunately, due to the timing of our Spain tour and the fact that flight prices from Madrid to Florence went from $86 to $400 each, we missed the Palio by one day. I don't think I would actually have wanted to stand in that crowd for several hours in the sun in 100 degree weather, but it still seemed like a bit of a bummer to miss it by one day.

When we got into Siena, we got a little breakfast at a bakery, and Linette used Google Translate to translate a newspaper article about the Palio the day before. Apparently there were 5 false starts, as the rider in back tries to psych out the others in front. Also, 3 horses couldn't participate due to injuries, and one jockey was injured during one of the false starts, so only 6 horses participated in the actual race.

If you want to watch the crazy race, you can see it here. Listen for the names of the contrade (neighborhoods) that are in the lead: Drago (dragon), Torre (bull), Pantera (panther). It ended in a photo finish.

The winner gets bragging rights. Apparently contrade have rivals (often called "enemies" when Italians speak about them in English), and while it's great for your contrada to win, the most important thing is that your "enemy" does not win, because apparently that's a really bitter pill to swallow. This year it was Drago (dragon) that won it.

The bakery we were in had a window that opened right at street level to the road behind it. We saw the owner step out this window and walk down that street.

Sienna appreciates cool doors.

I enjoy cool alleys. Literally.

The narrow roads flanked by tall buildings make it so that you can almost always walk in the shade.

I also liked that there were little fountains around, where you can refill your water bottle safely with cool water.

We soon came across this cute little church (St. Pietro Alle Scale), and went inside.

It was very pleasant inside, as the stone walls tend to keep the temperatures down.

I also found that the acoustics were great. I did a tongue pop (like Jared and I often do to get each others' attention), and it reverberated for some time. You can listen if you want:

Here's a statue of Mary looking sadly at a tiny crucified Jesus. (She looks a little like Julie Andrews as a nun...)

We were pretty worried about the weather forecast during our time in Siena, because we saw that it was going to be 100 degrees (38C). So you might say that "Siena is hot."

However, between the shady alleys, pleasant breeze, chilled cathedrals, and abundant gelato, we realized that actually, "Siena is cool!"

Cars are annoying in a town of narrow roads like this, so many people have motorcycles or scooters.

We soon arrived at the Duomo di Siena (Siena Cathedral). It was built in the 1200s on the site of an earlier structure. Sienna said that she thought the stripes looked a little funny from the pictures she had seen, but when she saw it in person, she thought it was amazing. The black and white stripes are created from two different colors of stone. (You can see Sienna in front of the steps here.)

The front was very intricate. The facade has beautifully detailed artwork throughout it.

Poor Linette was wiped out that morning. We bought tickets to go inside the cathedral, including a tour of the upper areas, and then Linette decided to sit on these steps while Sienna and I explored the area for a bit.

Sienna shopped for calendars and postcards.

There were cool alleys and arches everywhere.

This is the door behind the cathedral, near the baptistry.

An archway lead back into the square in front of the cathedral.

We had fun taking "Sienna in Siena" pictures all day.

This building had all the neighborhoods' flags on display.

I love the little arched passageways between buildings.

We picked Linette back up and walked over to see Il Campo, the main square in town.

She was finally awake!

Here we could just see the tower that overlooks the square, along with some of the balconies used by the spectators for the Palio.

But before I could reach the square, I was mesmerized by the sight of someone putting out pans full of fresh new gelato. This is, in my professional opinion, the best way to keep one's body temperature down on a hot day.

The main square still had dirt around the outside, which they had hauled in for the horse race. Here are Sienna and me simulating the race.

The main square is where people often hang out. We thought it was funny how all the people in the tour groups were clustered in the skinny shadow of the tower to avoid melting in the sun.

It was more pleasant there for sure.

Next to the tower is the Palazzo Publico (town hall), with massive doors entering into a courtyard.

There was still dirt inside, riddled with hoof marks from the horses gathered there before the horse race the day before.

Looking up from the courtyard, we could see the Torre del Mangia, built in 1325-1344, and named after the first bellringer, whose nickname, "Mangia-guadeagni" (profit-eater) may have come from his spendthrift tendency or perhaps his gluttony. It is 367 feet (112m) tall.

The pigeons didn't seem deterred by the spikes that were supposed to keep them out.

I loved that this street translates as "The Road of Malcontent".

I also like that there's a "do not enter" sign by it.

Rick Steve (the European travel writer) said that you can see Siena in a few hours, but we purposely booked three nights there so that we could savor the sights without being rushed. So when we found this nice little spot, we just sat and enjoyed for a bit.

Siena is beautiful.

The town of Siena was first settled by Etruscans in 900-400 B.C., and later came under Roman rule. It wasn't on any major trade routes, so it wasn't very prosperous until the Lombards invaded. The old Roman roads were exposed to Byzantine raids at that time, so the Lombards rerouted their trade through Siena, and it started to prosper.

It was a rival of Florence for a long time, but the Black Death hit Siena especially hard in 1348, and the town never really recovered. Florence continued to grow into a sprawling city, but Siena stayed about the same size now that it was in medieval times. This has kept Siena the little, charming town that it still is today. Siena is small, which is partly why Siena is so adorable.

We bought some delicious grapes at a cute fruit stand.

We had to spit out seeds, but they were worth it.

It was interesting to see "Siena" in so many languages (including Cyrillic).

While the gals shopped a bit, I returned to that gelato place by the main square. I found that on a hot day, limone (lemon) ice cream was the most refreshing. Cocco (coconut) was also nice. Stracciatella (chocolate chip) was also a solid go-to. Most gelato shops gave you small scoops, but this one really went for it.

Finally, it came time to return to the Duomo di Siena and go inside. It was spectacular!

I'm always amazed at the criss-crossed arches that support these magnificent cathedrals.

Even the floors were interesting.

The stripes of black and white stone made the place seem so magical. There were also Gregorian chants playing softly in the background.

The stained glass windows were very cool.

Sienna told the Last Supper joke: "Yes, we'd like a table for 26...No, there are only 13 of us, but we all want to sit on the same side."

Here you can see the black and white stone that was used to create the stripes.

The dome was beautifully done.

Siena is amazing.

There was so much art throughout the place that you sometimes didn't even notice sculptures that were as nice as any we saw in the museums. And somehow having them be in use as part of the decorations of a building made them more "real" than when they're on display out of context.

For example, here is a sculpture of St. Jerome by Bernini (done in 1661-1663). There was one by Michelangelo, too, but I didn't get a picture of that one because there were so many around.

There is a pulpit supported by pillars on lions. It was created in 1265 by Nicola Pisano.

This lion is biting a horse's head for some reason. Seems harsh.

There were popes or somebody lining the walls below the upper arches.

The decorations near the altar had bronze work, frescoes, stained glass and intricate woodwork.

The organ included trumpets that looked like they were announcing the arrival of a king.

At our designated time, we joined a small tour group to climb up to the roof of the cathedral, beginning with a narrow, circular staircase.

We walked under some of the wooden rafters.

The wooden rafters here looked much like the ones in the AirBnB where we were staying.

From up here, we could look down into the pulpit that was supported by pillars on those lions.

The view from above was amazing in its own, unique way. You can see how small the people are down there, and also how elaborate the mosaics on the floors are.

There was a display up there that showed all the different kinds of stone that were used throughout the building, including the floors.

There was one room where they displayed the kinds of tools used in the construction of the cathedral.

These windows overlooked the interior of the cathedral.

We went outside, and could look down upon the city from above. You can see the tower in the main square (Il Campo).

This is a wall that was originally intended to help enclose a massive addition that would have doubled the size of the cathedral. However, construction on the addition was halted by the Black Death in 1348. You can see people up on top, and we went up there later in the day.

It was interesting to see some of the details up high that you don't notice from below, like traditional red shingles.

Outside the crowded cluster of buildings within the walls of Siena lies vast areas of woods and farmland.

We were way up there.

Here it looks like the angels are watching over the town below.

Sienna had the idea to look through the clover at the arches.

From a walkway just under the massive stained glass window, we could look down into the interior.

Then it was time to head back down.

You can see the various colors of stone used in the mosaics on the floor. These were inlaid from the 14th to the 16th centuries, by 40 different artists. Most are still in their original state.

We could stand on the plexiglass floor to look down into the "crypt".

We took pictures of everything at all times.

This is the chapel of St. John the Baptist (though the bronze statue of him is temporarily missing, as the note on the wall explained).

It has its own dome at the top, which is way up there.

If you zoom way in, you can see the little cherub sculptures all around the top of the dome.

Through one door of the cathedral is the Piccolomini library, which was built in 1492 (yes, the same year Christopher Columbus discovered America!)

It houses old manuscripts, including many old song books.

There are panels telling the story of cardinal Enea Silvio Piccomolmini of Siena, who eventually became Pope Pius II.

The ceiling was awesome.

There just kept being cool stuff every direction we looked.

The gift shop had so many Sienas!

Under part of the cathedral is the "crypt", though no bodies have been found there.

This area was excavated recently in 1999, and it was a big surprise when they discovered brightly painted frescoes from the 12th and 13th centuries.

I love poor translations. Apparently "Obligatory Itinerary" means "one way." So I kept using that phrase for the rest of the trip whenever I could ("That street has an obligatory itinerary...").

From the crypt, we could look up and see the glass floor where we had looked down from the main cathedral. While we were there, we saw people looking down, so I waved and they always waved back.

After exploring the cathedral, we got some lunch at a random, nearby restaurant. We hadn't researched where to eat much, but everything was pretty similar and pretty good, so it turned out fine.

After lunch we continued using our all-inclusive Duomo pass to visit the baptistry.

The baptismal font was enclosed in a construction area, but we could see it through the glass. It had artwork done by Donatello and others.

Then we headed back through this archway again and over to the museum.

The museum had some pretty cool books, with elaborate decorations and buckles.

It also had some "relics" (body parts of saints).

From the top floor of the museum, we waited a bit in line, and Sienna told us something that cracked us all up.

Finally, it was time to climb this wall that we had seen from the top of the cathedral.

Here is the view from the halfway point.

As you can see in this panorama, we weren't at the top yet. So we climbed to the top of that arch.

Up we went.

The view of Siena from the very top was spectacular.

We didn't feel a need to climb the tower over in Il Campo, since we were already as high as it was.

Sienna just kept looking around in amazement.

Here is a little video that shows the view from the top.

And then it was back down the narrow spiral staircase.

In the rest of the museum we saw more works of art. This one seemed a bit off in several ways.

This guy looked just like Dumbledore. (Or Gandalf?)

This baby Jesus looks so sad!

This stained glass was impressive so close up.

It was flanked by 12 apostles.

Sienna made little memes on some of her pictures.

Gargoyles are meant to be terrifying, but not usually in this way.

It was the 4th of July that day, and the acoustics were great in the exit of the museum, so we sang a little Star Spangled Banner in there. A lady came and looked to see what was going on partway through.

The museum gift shop had this cute book.

Then it was time for more gelato. (I kind of thought it was seldom not time for more gelato).

We wandered the cute streets a bit more, and came across the Church of St. Christopher.

So we sat and did our scripture study and stuff in there.

Then more wandering.

As we walked to the other side of town, we could see the Duomo rising above the rest of the town.

We walked over to the Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, which has the relics of St. Catherine.

We weren't supposed to go inside wearing shorts, so we just took a peek from the doorway.

Linette sat there to read for a while, so Sienna and I walked around a bit. We found that we were at the edge of the modern part of town (traffic, strip malls, etc.), which wasn't nearly as charming as the old part of town we had been exploring.

We sat on a bench at a park for a minute, and this guy came by and we played with his nice dog for a while.