Saturday, December 8, 2018

Siena - Italy

Siena is one of the cities on my must visit list. It's historic centre, a Unesco World Heritage Site, the cuisine, art, museums and the Palio, a horse race held twice a year, make Siena one of Italy's most visited tourist attractions.
Cards sent by Tjitske and Theresa. 

© Turbanti Fabio s.n.c.
Siena is the embodiment of a medieval city. Its inhabitants pursued their rivalry with Florence right into the area of urban planning. Throughout the centuries, they preserved their city's Gothic appearance, acquired between the 12th and 15th centuries. During this period the work of Duccio, the Lorenzetti brothers and Simone Martini was to influence the course of Italian and, more broadly, European art. The whole city of Siena, built around the Piazza del Campo, was devised as a work of art that blends into the surrounding landscape. - in: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/717

Photo by ATLANTIDE * Edizioni M. T. S.
The Siena Cathedral (Duomo), begun in the 12th century, is one of the great examples of Italian Romanesque-Gothic architecture. Its main façade was completed in 1380. It is unusual for a cathedral in that its axis runs north-south. This is because it was originally intended to be the largest cathedral in the world, with a north-south transept and an east-west nave, as is usual. After the completion of the transept and the building of the east wall (which still exists and may be climbed by the public via an internal staircase) the money ran out and the rest of the cathedral was abandoned. - in: wikipedia

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