Explore a wonderful Tuscan city known for its stunning cathedral.
Siena is a beautiful Tuscan city located just south of Florence, Italy. In fact, Siena is a very easy day trip from Florence, with very frequent bus service between the two urban areas. However, both times I have visited Siena, I’ve used it as a stopping point between Florence and Rome, which is totally doable in a single day if you start early enough and book bus tickets in or out of Rome ahead of time.
This was my second visit to Siena. I stayed in a hostel on the edge of town on my first visit in 2016 and also visited San Gimignano nearby. This also allowed me more time to explore the streets of Siena as I had an earlier start in the day to roam around. This time, the weather was poor in the morning, so most of the day was spent inside in museums, one of which I didn’t visit on my first visit.
Siena was a bit of a backwater during Roman times but really came into its own by the time of Charlemagne (8th century CE). The city really became prosperous starting in the 12th century when it became a center of money lending and the wool trade. It was in the 13th century when Siena started constructing many of the buildings we see today.
Siena’s famous 13th century cathedral. (Photo taken in 2016. Most of my cathedral photos are from this visit.)
The Duomo of Siena was completed in the 13th century on the site of an earlier 9th century church. The facade of the church is famous for its fancy sculptures and bands of polychrome marble, a very Tuscan architectural feature. Most of the sculptures on the facade today are now copies. The originals are kept in the cathedral museum for safe keeping. They are pretty cool.
The polychrome marble continues on the inside. Siena Cathedral is just like no other church I have ever seen before.
Lots of carvings, paintings. I do love the ceiling and that light. The main altar is a bit oddly placed. It isn’t really separated from what can be considered chapels on either side.
A look at the giant hexagonal dome from the nave.
Siena Cathedral is also famous for its marble floors. Some panels are show massive scenes of local history or Old or New Testament themes. Most remain covered for most of the year but some you can see as they are not in areas used for church functions. I honestly don’t remember what this scene is. This is what happens when things are listed in pamphlets and not on signs and I don’t take pictures of it. It looks like some sort of battle.
One of the “simpler” mosaics found near the entrance of the cathedral. There are a couple that feature women. She kind of looks like a teacher showing kids a book as she tells a story here.
Finally, a room without a strobe light (actually taken in 2019), the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, featuring a bronze statue of St. John the Baptist by Florentine artist Donatello. Most of the chapel was in place sometime in the 15th century.
A random door off right in the cathedral leads you to the beautiful Piccolomini Library. It houses illuminated choir books and frescoes by the artist Pinturicchio. The room is absolutely stunning.
Beautiful frescoes in this room. Greyhound-like dogs were even a thing back them it seems.
To reach the baptistery (officially the Baptistery of San Giovanni) you have to exit the cathedral and walk all the way around to the back side of it. Because of Siena’s hilly typography, it was built on a lower level behind the apse of the church.
The baptistery is in a large rectangular hall with a huge font. It’s massive. The panels on the font present scenes of St. John the Baptist’s life, created by a bunch of local Tuscan artists including Donatello. Of course, frescoes also completely cover the ceiling.
Near the entrance of the baptistery is the Crypt. A 12-13th century church was found underneath the cathedral in 1999. The narthex, a lobby or entrance way, was filled in with rubble when the baptistery was constructed in the 14th century, preserving some really cool frescoes. While it’s called a crypt, it’s not a burial place. Crypt is just a bad translation from Italian, cripta, which also can mean an undercroft, the underground storage areas underneath medieval buildings, or in modern parlance, a basement. They had turned the old church into an undercroft by the way the support beams (brick ones) look and just kept original walls in place.
One of the many cool frescoes to be found in the Crypt.
Across the piazza from the front of the cathedral is Santa Maria della Scala, once a civic hospital dedicated to caring for abandoned children, the poor, the sick and pilgrims. It was a philanthropic mission that ran from 1193 to the 18th century, funded by wealthy patrons and citizens of Siena. Today, the hospital is a museum with medieval art, modern art and archaeological artifacts from the Siena region.
Reconstructed ceramics with the Santa Maria della Scala symbol, a ladder. Makes sense since Scala means ladder.
Once the hospital church, the Church of Santissima Annunziata, now serves as a parish church you can visit during your tour of the museum.
Another room full of frescoes. They depict the history and activities of Santa Maria della Scala, such as healing the sick, taking care of children, clothing the poor, etc.
This fresco for example shows the hospital taking care of orphans. You have nurses, teachers, cooks, helping the kids out on the left. On the right, you have them marrying a girl orphan off. They tried finding them an okay husband by at least giving them a dowry to start off with.
Because of the hilly terrain of Siena, the hospital had a ton of levels. There is even an underground chapel area, the Oratorio della compagnia di Santa Caterina della Notte.
The hospital eventually expanded over an existing city street, so they incorporated it inside the building. Doesn’t look like it in this photo, but this street is fairly steep even though it’s inside a building.
I could have spent forever in the archaeological section. They had a good selection of Etruscan sarcophagi in the undercroft of the museum. Siena was actually founded by the Etruscans before the Romans even came to the area!
I’m not really going to go through the Opera Museum (cathedral museum), but it’s a great museum. However, I am going to show you the view from the top.
Awesome view even on a dark, cloudy day. Piazza del Campo is our next stop.
This is why direct word for word translation doesn’t always work. They could have used Google translate at least for this one and still have gotten decent English.
Palazzo Pubblico and Torre del Mangia, two more of Siena’s most famous sites. The 13th century palazzo serves as Siena’s town hall. Almost all the major rooms inside are covered in frescoes, and you can see them as part of the civic museum. I didn’t go inside the museum this time around, but I did last time. So, here’s a couple bonus pictures from that visit.
Frescoes on every wall and ceiling on this floor. The fresco with the ships represents the Naval Battle of Punta San Salvatore, painted in the early 15th century.
Very pretty little chapel.
Opposite of the Palazzo Pubblico on the Piazza del Campo. I love the old, reused towers.
Also on the Piazza del Campo is this pool like fountain, the Fonte Gaia. Constructed in 1419, it was the endpoint of the water conduits bringing water into the city.
Siena is also a great city to wander about in. It’s bursting with narrow streets, lined with medieval brick and stone buildings. Plenty of other wonderful churches and wonders can be found as well, but after a full day of the cathedral complex and Santa Maria dell Scala (which was much large than I thought it was going to be), it was time to wander a bit and head my way towards the bus station.
A grand medieval building, now properly a bank. Many early Tuscan townhouses were built like fortresses. Families often fought each other over control, even though the city was technically a republic.
Palazzo Salimbeni, home of the world’s oldest or second oldest bank, the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena. There is some debate on the official foundation date. The bank was founded in 1472 as a mount of piety (basically an institutional pawnbroker run as a charity). It wasn’t officially a bank until 1624. If you use the first day, oldest bank in the world, second if you use the second date.
Main shopping street in Siena. Has a bit of a curve to it.
A little old building that was probably incorporated into the building next door to it. Pretty awesome that they kept it.
Siena is a wonderful excursion from Florence. There is a lot to see and do. Better yet, stay for a couple of days and check out San Gimignano, another Tuscan town, too. I will probably be back again someday knowing me.
Check out my next update where I return to Florence!
or
Check out the nearby Tuscan town of San Gimignano!
