Susan, Linda, Karen, Recia, Ken and I left for Siena this morning to witness the Duomo, il Campo, and Nininnis.
The Duomo is the soul of Siena. It is the white and dark green striped church which is a shrine to the Virgin Mary. It is the largest Duomo in Tuscany. Inside, we marveled at
Donatelo's bronze sculpture of John the Baptist; at the Piccolomini altar,
Michelangelo's statue of Paul. This statue is a self portrait of Michelangelo, so he added a Mose's beard and the original dangling hand of "David". Michelangelo was supposed to sculpt the complete altar for Pope Pius III but when he was commissioned to do the statue of David in Florence, this assignment in Siena ceased; there is a very special chapel in the Duomo called "Cappella della Madonna del Voto" where
Bernini's statues of Mary Magdalene and St. Jerome look over the painting of the Madonna and Child by Duccio; The marble floor of this monstrous church was decorated with many scenes from the old Testament by 40 artists over 2 centuries; one particular floor mosaic was the "Massacre of the Innocents" - Wow!
Pisano sculpted an octoganal Carrara marble pulpit which sat on the backs of 4 lions and displays the story of Christ.
After being blown away at the Duomo, we had lunch in the square known as Il Campo. This is the largest piazza in Italy and is the location of the Palio horse race performed twice a year in July and August. This is a neighbourhood horse race to the death featuring 17 horses and bareback riders, drawing over 10,000 people into this square.
We finished the afternoon off with a visit to Siena's famous bakery known as Nannini's. Cookies, coffee, cream puffs, cakes, ice cream, and candies were soooooo delicious!!!!
We drove back to the villa on a "grande tour" through the countryside and stopped at a winery for some vino to bring back to the party.
Jim came home from the hospital today. Julie cooked a gourmet salmon dinner with all the trimmings to celebrate.
After the feast, we gathered around the open fire on the upper floor of the villa, and reflected on our holiday to date.
P.S. We ran into Debbie and Patrick from Cambridge in Siena. They were strolling by the bakery and spotted us.
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