Following Michelangelo: Siena (7/14/1983)

Thursday, July 14, 1983

We wakened at our usual 7:30 and had breakfast at the buffet. We then walked to the main post office where Marsha bought stamps. It was easier to figure 10 x 550 ITL/36 cents. We continued to Ponte Vecchio and crossed to the Palazzo Pitti. It was pouring rain as we walked there. We bought the 3,000 ITL/$2 ticket and climbed the stairs to the Palatina Gallery, bypassing the Modern Art Gallery that required another ticket.

Going down the left side of the gallery, we saw most of the eleven Rafaellos, but the main ones, such as the Madonna of the Chair, were being restored. We did see the Grand Duke’s Madonna, but couldn’t find La Fornarina at all. We saw Filippo Lippi’s Descent from the Cross, and San Marco by Fra Bartolomeo. We saw only a couple Andrea del Sartos, and saw the portrait of Tommaso Inghirami by Raffaello instead of del Sarto. We did see the St John the Baptist by del Sarto, but no scenes from the life of Joseph. There were many works by Tiziano Vecelli including Concert, and portraits of Pope Julius, a Man in Black (with a different title, Pietro Aretino!), and La Bella. We couldn’t pick out the Man with Gray Eyes. By Jacopo Tintoretto: Venus, Vulcan and Cupid, and a Madonna. By Peter Paul Rubens: Isabella Clara, Consequences of War, and the second time around we saw the Four Philosophers. Coming back the other side of the gallery we saw paintings by Paolo Veronese, Anthony Van Dyck (Portrait of Bentivoglio), Dosso Dossi (Mystic) and Frans Pourbus. We went through the first gallery again to reach the stairs to go out to the garden. We exited the garden, and had to go around to the entrance to get back in! We then went to the Silver Museum, which was included in our ticket. It actually had very little silver! Carvings, inlaid wood, dollhouses, lots of ivory, porcelain, religious treasures, etc.

We then went back across the river to the Baptistery, and this time it was open! We entered to see where Dante Alighieri was baptized, and found the section of marble pavement that shows the signs of the zodiac. The dome was covered with mosaics showing scenes from both the Old and New Testaments around the Last Judgment. Christ dominates the scene and to his right was Inferno with a monster-devil eating people. We saw Donatello’s tomb of the Antipope John XXIII with Faith, Hope, and Charity. The marble pulpit was by Nicola Pisano.

We went to the train station to catch the 11:40 train to Siena.

FS ETR 302 Settebello train in the station

First Class was just one set of seats on both sides of the aisle! We arrived about 13:30 to clearer skies. We crossed the street to the bus stop, and saw a sign stating tickets had to be purchased before boarding. Back in the train station we found where to buy the 300 ITL/20 cent tickets.

Siena bus ticket

We boarded the first bus to come by, that took us up Via Garibaldi and we got off at the end of Via Montanini. We walked up the fairly empty pedestrian street, stopping at a couple displays of photos from the Palio. We came to Piazza Salimbeni with its three palazzos, and continued past Piazza Tolomei. We tried a slice of panforte marca oro/gold brand fruit cake, to see if it had chocolate in it. Nope! But it was good. Marsha bought some packaged spice cakes. We then went to Piazza del Campo, which was cleared out and empty. We counted the eleven streets leading into the square, and checked out the fountain. We went into the courtyard of Palazzo Pubblico/Town Hall for a view of the Torre del Mangia. We entered the Palazzo Pubblico Museum for 2,000 ITL/$1.30.

Palazzo Pubblico Museum tickret

We were directed right up the stairs into a highly decorated room (frescoes, etc.). We went left to the Priors’ Room with frescoes of the life of the Sienese Pope Alexander III. We found the chapel behind a railing frescoed by Taddeo di Bartolo. We examined the choir stalls with inlaid backs illustrating the Creed. We entered the Globe Room to see most of the Maestà/Virgin Surrounded by Saints by Simone Martini. Opposite was his portrait of a Sienese General (Guidoriccio da Fogliano). In the next room were the frescoes of Ambrogio Lorenzetti, called the Effects of Good Government. A back room had religious artifacts.

We walked over to Via di Città to see the courtyard of the Palazzo Chigi-Saracini. Then  followed Via del Capitano past the Palazzo di Giustizia/Justice to the Duomo. We entered the cathedral to admire the paving, to see Bernini’s statues in the Chapel of the Virgin of Siena. We continued around the ambulatory to Nicola Pisano’s pulpit. We found what we determined to be the tomb of Cardinal Riccardo Petroni by Tino di Camaino. Saw Donatello’s bronze St John the Baptist, and finally found the real Piccolomini Altarpiece with four sculptures by Michelangelo. We had to guess a bit as to which ones were Sts Peter and Paul, and Popes Gregory and Pius. We were never sure about the St Francis he did after Pietro Torrigiani. We went to the gift shop where postcards confirmed which statues were Sts Peter and Paul.

Piccolomini Library ticket

We paid 1,000 ITL/65 cents to enter the Piccolomini Library with its colorful frescoes by Pinturicchio around the dome, containing three-dimensional gold ornaments (jewelry, buckles, knives, etc.). The most colorful (and with more gold paint) were those over the door depicting the Betrothal of emperor Frederick III, and Aeneas Receiving the Cardinal’s Hat. All were scenes from the life of Pope Pius II, whose books were to be kept here. Now there are illuminated manuscripts. We were disappointed that the portrait by Raffaello was not there. We went out a side door and saw the aisle and façade of the originally planned Duomo. We entered the Duomo Museum for 2,000 ITL/$1.30.

Duomo/Cathedral Musuem ticket

On the ground floor was the statue gallery with sculptures by Pisano. We couldn’t tell which one was the Three Graces, a copy of the Greek Praxiteles. Upstairs in a dark room, where only the paintings were lighted, there was a section of a Maestà/Virgin Surrounded by Saints by Duccio. It was the original altarscreen in the Duomo and the missing parts are in other countries including the U.S. and U.K. There was a back room showing diagrams of the Duomo pavement. We didn’t see a treasury, but upstairs we saw more paintings, mostly by Sienese artists. A few were gone for restoration like Simone Martini’s Agostino Novello and the Four Miracles. There was a primitive painting on wood of the Madonna with Large Eyes.

We went around behind the Duomo to go down some stairs. Partway down was a crypt with statues. We continued down tot the Baptistery, which was very dark so as to not see the frescoes. In the center was the font (1429) by Jacopo della Quercia. He was the last of the artists to work on the bas reliefs of the life of St John the Baptist. Ghiberti did the Baptism of Chirst and John Before Herod. Donatello did the Head of St John Presented to Herod. We found the wooden statue of St John by della Quercia.

Next we headed to the Basilica di San Domenico. This time I found the real portrait of St Catherine by Lippo Vanni, at the end of the nave and up some stairs. We stopped at the Chapel of St Catherine, where someone was explaining that the shrunken head was the skull covered with clay to protect it. I still think it is a mummified head.

now we walked across town to the rival Basilica di San Francesco, which was large and bare, having been restored in the 19C. In the first chapel to the left of the chancel was a fresco of the Crucifixion by Pietro Lorenzetti. In the third chapel to the left was a fresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti showing St Louis of Toulouse before Boniface VIII (right) and the Martyrdom of the Franciscans in Ceuta (left). Another chapel held the miraculously preserved Hosts that were stolen and desecrated.

We walked back to Via dei Montanini where I bought a small panforte, called Oro/Gold, from Nannini. We sat in the Loggia dei Mercanti to try this fruitcake, and it didn’t have chocolate in it either! We went to wait for a bus at Piazza Matteoti, and took it to the train station, arriving in plenty of time for the 18:13 train to Firenze. Decided just to sit in 2nd Class as it didn’t make much difference!

Arrived in Firenze at nearly 20:00, and went to the hotel to dump our things before going to Piazza della Repubblica to have dinner. Only one of the two restaurants was open, Fiorino d’Oro/Gold Florin. We sat outside under the canopy and waited forever for a waiter, who was very busy. Yet a mâitre d’ was pulling people off the street to eat here. The pizza maker inside kept us entertained. We had mineral water, and Marsha also has a beer. I had lasagna verde/green with Tuscan beans in oil. The beans were excellent and the lasagna was mediocre. Marsha had peppers sautéed in oil and a minestrone. Sha had wanted a cannelloni soup, but they had run out. Then she asked for a calzone, but was told it would take at least 20 minutes to make. Since she was hungry, too, she also had green lasagna. The bill was under 20,000 ITL/$13. We decided we were too full to go across the square to Gilli’s for ice cream. We stood outside a dance club to hear the band play for a while before returning to the hotel. The sky was a neat purple color.

Marsha in the hotel room