Perfection in Siena

This weekend, my friend Laura and I headed to Siena for our three day weekend. We had to catch the bus at 8 AM at the bus station in Macerata - and it almost proved to be impossible. I'm not sure how many people we asked for help, but it was a substantial number. Our bus was (only) twenty-five minutes late, and despite the reassurances of all the Italians we asked, we were sure we'd missed it.

Nevertheless, by 2 PM we had checked into a charming B&B in the heart of Siena (we could not find a hostel anywhere in the city), gotten ourselves some pizza, and set about exploring. First, we went to the Museo dell'Opera, which houses some of the original pieces from the Duomo (the famous church in town) and lots of other really cool art pieces. Sadly, no pictures allowed.

As part of the Museo, we got to climb the Panorama dal facciatone, which provided a fantastic view of the city - and with the gorgeous weather, there were some really great photo opportunities!

View of the Duomo from the Panorama dal facciatone.

The Piazza del Campo is below the big tower!

Finally, we walked around the corner to finally take in the facade of the Cattedrale. The brochure I picked up says that when Richard Wagner visited this Cattedrale in 1880, he teared up and said it was "the greatest emotion I ever felt in front of a building." I didn't cry, but I have to agree that it was absolutely stunning. The contrasting marble is so overwhelming, but in a perfect way, and with the sun shining off the gold in the paintings in the top three triangles - so wonderful. The entire church is covered, inside and out with decorations, but unlike the church in Loreto, where it's all different styles, this all had a flow to it and I have to admit - it's my favorite church so far. We also went down below to the crypt, where unfortunately there weren't any cool burials or bodies, but there was a famous Titian on display! Again, no pics.

I think I liked it so much because it seemed vaguely Egyptian to me....

Ceiling of one of the side rooms - covered in frescoes!

The rest of the night we spent eating dinner at a super cute trattoria (where I tried roasted rabbit - not as good as wild boar but pretty decent), and then eating gelato in the Piazza del Campo - said to be the most beautiful piazza in all of Italy. It is really gorgeous, designed in a fan shape, and full of people all the time- laying out, reading, smoking, getting kicked out because they're doing some crazy dance/chant (teenagers), eating gelato... it was wonderful. My favorite part of the trip was the chilling in the piazza that we did all three days.

The Museo Civico, lit up at night!

The fountain in the piazza - lots of pigeons!

Saturday we hit up the Battistero of the Duomo, which was pretty but tame compared to the Cathedral itself. Then we went to the Museo Civico where the Lorenzetti Good Government is housed (a famous fresco we've studied in art history). It was gorgeous! There were all these school groups there, so that was a little distracting, and you weren't allowed to take pictures, which was again, lame. But I promise, the frescoes themselves were huge, much bigger than I expected, and very very cool. It's always nice to see what you study in the classroom up close and personal, and we saw several pieces we recognized.

Since Saturday was St. Patty's Day, after dinner we went to the Dublin Post, an Irish pub in town that was having a big party, and celebrated with real Irish music - Scarborough Fair was not exactly the vibe I was expecting at the bar, but I suppose since it was true Irish music, I can't complain.

Sunday, we had to wait until our bus left at 5 PM, so we spent the morning walkeing around the outskirts of town and ended up in the cemetery with a great view of the pretty countryside. We also found a park with a seesaw. And yes, that happened. Then we went to the Museo Torture, a little museum we saw on a side street, and it was good to be reminded that although I think death and torture are cool in theory and interesting to learn about - I actually felt nauseous as we went through. It was disgusting, with all these replicas and originals of torture devices used in the past (and some still today, allegedly), with pictures of how they were used and graphic descriptions. Cool, but also, really really horrifying. After this, we needed another gelato and some piazza chilling time to get our minds off it. Finally, we left to catch our bus (with a great deal of sadness - I absolutely loved Siena) and made it back to Macerata.

The Iron Maiden - you put people inside, and shut the doors. The interior is lined with spikes.

Siena definitely has a fair share of tourists, but even though I heard a lot of English, it was still very much the type of Italian town I envisioned - activity and people all the time. When we took our passagiata (nightly walk) Saturday night, it was actually crowded! It's not usually like that in Macerata. If you are headed to Italy, Siena is a city I would definitely not miss. Everything about it - the culture, the people, the countryside, the architecture, the history, the art, the food (gelatooooooo) was absolute perfection. And don't forget to spend time just taking in the moment in the Piazza del Campo - it was my favorite part of the weekend!