It’s the 7th of July, and we leave Florence in the early morning for a day trip to Siena. This is the Santa Maria Novella Station in Florence, which is very aesthetic, but also (in its origins)
somewhat fascist.
After a sweat-inducing ascent from Siena station to the inner city, we are greeted at the gates by the Capitoline She-Wolf, who is something of a recurring theme in Siena, because according to the legend, the town was founded by the fugitive sons of Remus after the latter had been killed by his brother.
Siena is full of stairs and steep slopes. We’re nearing the cathedral, as the striped marble intarsia all around give away ...
There it is! The best gothic church facade in Italy after Orvieto. Now don’t get distracted by the gentleman in the foreground.
Inner sanctum.
As you can see, it is all about the stripes.
Weary wandering feet.
Sacred bums.
Dead babies, courtesy of Bethlehem.
I have such fond memories of learning by heart the stylistic characteristics of these stone pulpits created by several generations of Pisanos, it was kind of exciting to see one in real life. I can’t tell whether Max is being pious again in this picture, or just tired.
Squee! It’s the bowlshaped Piazza del Campo and the Palazzo Pubblico (which is one of the buildings I’ll be comparing to
this tower for a seminar this semester).
These are infuriatingly meaningless tourist pictures and I apologise.
Next stop: Cinque Terre!
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