Beautiful Siena. Tuscany, Italy
It was cold. After hot Rome, wine, the weather failed and deteriorated. . .
So Siena. She impressed me a lot. Its well-preserved medieval core is under the protection of UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, by the way. And we were lucky with a guide - a wonderful Daniela, an Italian who speaks Russian (so sharp) and talks about her hometown not as a teacher of mathematics, but from the SOUL. Sincere, pleasant and funny. The city went to me like clockwork. While the group was touring the cathedrals in their free time, I walked around the area and found the view amazing, in my opinion.
In general, Tuscany is a very, very, and again, a VERY beautiful region. It is located entirely on the hills and is dotted with vineyards, pine trees and olive groves. The views from the bus were absolutely amazing. And the first building that Daniela introduced us to was once just. . . a stable.
The whole city consists of districts (counterparts) bearing names, even rather not names, but the names of animals: dolphins, elephants, snails, horses, panthers... There are 17 of them !! ! It is between them that the famous (or little known) Palio races take place. Well, it's hard to call it races, rather, these are competitions between the teams of the animals I have indicated and not yet indicated in the amount of 17 items. The tradition lasts for many centuries and is accompanied by festivities until the morning. Well, I managed to find these contradas : -)) not everything is true...
But the most interesting is not this. And how the winning teams love to "revenge" the teams they overthrew from the "throne". For example, the team of Elephants led a LIVE elephant through the Dolphin contrada. The elephant, as it should be for a large animal, did this loudly. Moreover, the elephant was fed something so special that he could walk... and poop. Accordingly, there was a lot of toilet paper and it was all tedious to clean up. Daniela said that it stank terribly, but it was definitely fun : -) It is also interesting that it is still not advisable for girls and boys to marry residents from other contradas. Everyone knows each other well and it is really very difficult to hide such novels.
Siena Duomo. What to say? I am one of those people who can say: "Beautiful" and that's it. If I am an amateur in some industry, then YES - AN AMATEUR. From big letters. So from the wiki, but interesting:
Siena Cathedral - the main church of the Republic of Siena, the most important monument of Italian Gothic. It was designed and built between 1215 and 1263 on the site of an earlier building. The cathedral has the shape of a Latin cross. The dome rests on an octagonal base supported by columns. The dome lantern was added by Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini. Outside and inside the cathedral is finished with white and greenish-black marble with the addition of red marble on the facade. Black and white are the heraldic colors of Siena, their origin is associated with the white and black horses of the founders of the city, Senius and Askia. The interior of the cathedral is remarkable for its exceptional artistic expressiveness of the mosaic floor, the magnificently decorated pulpit by Niccolò Pisano and the statue of John the Baptist, sculptured by Donatello. Some of the artistic treasures of the Duomo, such as the famous "Maesta" by Duccio and stained glass windows designed by Cimabue, now adorn the cathedral museum.
Well, this is information for those who are interested and understand. I - no, so I just admired the beauty of the dark wings of a white angel and a protruding lion : -)
The view of the Palazzo Publico in Piazza del Campo is also impressive. And, of course, the area itself. Surprisingly smart. It is built in such a way that when washing away dirt, or whatever, it invariably ends up in the sewer. Well, that's just my layman's opinion. This is the first urban ensemble in Europe in the full sense of the word, conceived as a festive center of the social life of the city; Already in the 14th century, the square was used for theatrical performances, tournaments, which have survived to this day, the Palio equestrian competitions. Broken on a steep slope of a hill, resembling a giant open shell, the square, as it were, pulls the stairs running down from above and smoothly descends to the Palazzo Pubblico building that closes it below.
I liked the Fountain of Joy : -) True, true... But its story is even cooler : -)
Around 1340, the Signoria of Siena decided to build a public fountain in the main square of the city, Piazza del Campo. The work was entrusted to the Sienese sculptors and architects Agostino and Agnolo, who built a rectangular bowl of the fountain and led water to it through lead and clay pipes. Usually fountains are round or oval. . On June 1.1343, the grand opening of the fountain took place (!! ! for a second!!! ) I really remember the date : -) Children's Day after all! So, after that, Agnolo left for Assisi. Agostino also began to make drawings for the marble decoration of the fountain. Making drawings, he died in the square near the fountain he created. Sadness. . .
But the joy is different in fact : -) In the center of the fountain we see a sculpture of the Virgin Mary with the baby Christ in her arms, around her are marble sculptures of two angels, the seven Virtues and Rhea Sylvia with babies Romulus and Remus in her arms. Also marble relief compositions - "Expulsion from Paradise" and "Creation of Adam". Below, under the figures and reliefs, he placed sculptures of lions and wolves, which served as the emblem of the city of Siena. The Sienese liked this fountain so much that the sculptor Jacopo della Quercia was constantly called : -) The city became more beautiful, and the Sienese happier : -)
And I also found a wonderful view in Siena - Piazza Mercato Piazza Mercato : -)
I really liked the place from different angles . . It seems that it's just at home. It's so strange, there are crowds of people in the square 50 meters away, but here it's empty : -)
But most of all in Siena I liked the streets. They are so. . so street : -) Especially in the contrada of the Elephants (forgive me, Daniela).
And it is in the vicinity of Siena that the famous Italian Chianti is produced. Here!
Don't miss Siena! You will have a wonderful opportunity to look into the sincerely open windows of residents and institutions, where you can see frescoes 12 and 14, and if you are very lucky, they will let you take pictures of them. By the way, 1 sq. m. costs in Siena from 7000 euros. But this is not a market valuation of real estate, but a state valuation, because the historical value is still!
A city that deserves close attention and wandering around it.
