Saturday in Siena

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It seems an age since I last blogged. We have been busy and Mike and I both were out of commission for a couple of days with bad allergies. But all is better now.

Our classes are going along OK. The students are showing up so we think they must be enjoying the classes. Most of our classes are at night as the students work and go to university.

Thursday we went into Florence to see the baptistery at the Duomo. It was worth the price. I am just sorry we couldn’t get better pictures to show you. We also went to the Duomo museum and saw one of Michelangelo Pietas. Friday Mike and I and the director for the school,

David Woodroof, went to the local library and I read The Giving Tree in English to some kids who are trying to learn English. After talking with some of the kids it reminded me of myself trying to learn Spanish.

The highlight of the week was a trip to Siena. It is about one hour away and it is the ultimate Italian hill city. It was the medieval archrival of Florence battling for economic and political superiority. Of course Florence had the Medici’s so it was a rigged battle. Besides being very beautiful, a few of the sights are breath taking and worth seeing. It is said that the color sienna comes from the color of the buildings in Siena. I don’t have a hard time believing that.

Siena’s real claim to fame is the very famous horse race, the Palio. It takes place twice each year and it is a race between the 17 neighborhoods of Siena. The race takes place in the large city square, Il Campo, and no less than 60,000 people will fill up the parts of the square that has not been turned into a race track. The competition between the different neighborhoods is said to make our Super Bowl competition look like child’s play. Only 10 of the 17 neighborhoods have a horse in each of the 2 races. The whole race only lasts just over a minute. It is a no- holds- barred-race. A horse can win even without its rider. I guess it is not unheard of for the jockey to fall off his horse.

The winning neighborhood goes crazy and gets to keep the winning banner until the next time. I am kind of sorry we missed it. We did take some pictures of the square to give you an idea of just how little this place is.

Next we went to the Church of San Domenico. It was a nice church but the real interesting part was the actual head of St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) displayed in her special chapel. There is a full explanation of how it has been officially and historically proven that it is her real head. And if that isn’t satisfying enough, you can see her thumb in a small case next to her metal bust. It made a believer out of me. She is credited with convincing Pope Gregory XI, who had taken up residency in Avignon, France, to return the papacy to the city of Rome.

The next stop was the Cathedral (1284-1390). It is a white and dark green (marble) striped church. It is full of Michelangelo statues and Bernini sculptures and lots more. It is quite a site. The city of Siena had intended to build a cathedral to rival St. Peter’s in Rome but half way through building the church the city was hit with the Black Plague and lost half of its work force. It remains unfinished to this day. Our pictures will give you some idea of what the church looks like but as with most of the monuments, it is too big to really get the whole picture. The shiny spot at the top of the alter is a lovely stained glass picture that was intended to light up when the sun came through. As you can see it worked.

We would recommend to anyone traveling through Italy a stop at Siena. You won’t be disappointed. Oh, did I mention that it is a great place to shop?

There is a lot more I could say but I think I will save it for another day.

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Photos

Ann Reading
Ann reading in public library to local kids

Saint Catherine
St. Catherine of Siena's head

Duomo Baptistry
Gilded Gold

Inside Cathedral
Sunlight through the stained glass window

Il Campo Square for Palio
Site of the horse race

Siena Cypress
Symbol of Tuscany

Comments

[Dave Lopez]

Great blog
Ann, Great information. Glad to hear you are having so much fun. We all miss you and look forward to having you guys back but are glad you are having such a great time. Keep up the Good work. Dave

[Taylor]

Amazing Architecture
It is hard to believe the wealth, technology and design sense the people had in the Middle Ages. So few of the buildings of the 20th Century are worthy of preservation for 500 or more years. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your photographs.