After the accumulated effects of walking, my body wants a rest. Siena is my designated rest space. In my opinion, I find Siena to be captivating. I still can picture walking down a stone street, looking out and up, and seeing the sloping, brick, shell-shaped Piazza del Campo and the slender, majestic tower of the city’s municipal building situated at the bottom of the piazza. That memory is from almost 30-years ago with several Reinhardt faculty and numerous students. Each of my other visits confirms Siena’s charms.

I’m particularly drawn by the Cathedral. Not on the Piazza del Campo, the Cathedral sets on the highest hill a few blocks from the Campo. While stone carriers and masons worked from 1196-1348, the main construction occurred between 1215-1267. In 1339, as the major rival to Florence, only 35 miles away, Siena wanted to outdo its rival by doubling the size of its already impressive cathedral. However, the 1348 plague arrives. Half the population of Siena die. Some walls of the hoped-for expanded cathedral exist, but nothing more.

The Cathedral’s decoration is everywhere. A column besides the main Portal connects Siena with Romulus and Remus. Why you ask? Aren’t Romulus and Remus associated with Rome? According to Wikipedia, “According to local legend Senius and Aschius, sons of Remus and founders of Siena, left Rome with the statue, stolen from the Temple of Apollo in Rome.” There you have it!

I take one of my few “pay tours” in order to walk to the roof of the Cathedral.

The photos show the exterior’s contrasting white marble with blackish-green marble stripes (black and white are colors found on Siena’s coat-of-arms). Striking. As I walk along the rim of the dome, I can look down into the nave. Impressive!

I return to the Cathedral’s ground level.

Every square foot seems to be filled with some sort of ornamentation. Inside angels holding candles on the tall columns pull my eyes upward.

I also get a feeling that I’m being watched. I am because over 172 popes stare down at me!

Looking downward, the floor is filled with over 50 inlaid marble scenes. Walking around the Dome, I get a further sense of how large these inlaid marbles works are. The Slaughter of the Innocents is gruesome in its detail.

There are Sibyls representing various virtues.

Finally, there are works by many of the “greats”, early Michelangelo, Donatello, Ghiberti, Bernini, and others. The sculptured pulpit is especially amazing.

Walking into a library attached to the nave, I see more than a dozen medieval, illuminated, large size, choir books. The choir books would make anyone want to sing!

Quite a place. While not like Amiens or Reims whose stain glass makes me speechless, not like other smaller churches whose intimacy moves me to prayer, Siena elicits a sense of wonder. Over many years, Individuals and groups of people, can imagine and construct. Amazing!