Burnt Siena

April 21st--"Burnt Sienna", a color known to artists and Crayola-users, fills the Il Campo square and it's buildings. This square was our first stop after arriving by train to Siena. We found a restaurant that had outside seating in order to relax and enjoy the view. The City Hall and it's 330-foot tower dominate the square. The City Tower (Tore del Mangia) is Italy's tallest secular tower. We enjoyed, yet again, a wonderful Italian lunch. In fact, we are starting to wonder if we'll ever get sick of Italian food during our time here....the answer, problem not! Anyway, after finishing up lunch, the kids were able to burn off some energy playing in the square before we did some tourist things. We left the square and headed toward Siena's Cathedral area, but stopped along the way to buy a recommended souvenir. We bought one of the scarves/flags that depicts the symbol of one of Siena's 17 contrada (neighborhoods). Each contrada is represented by a mascot and unique colors. We choose the contrada represented by the giraffe; primarily because Abby liked the giraffe and we liked the colors (red and white). The Siena Duomo is a beautiful white and dark-green striped church. Upon entering the Duomo, we purchased a 10 Euro "My Name is Duccio" combo-ticket. This ticket included entry into the Duomo Museum, Baptistery, Crypt and the Facciatone. We visited all of these particular places so I'll give you a little information on all of them. The cathedral has one of the most ornate, busy interiors of any church we have seen. It is filled with Renaissance artwork including sculptures by Bernini and Michelangelo. The Duomo Museum preserves numerous works of art and finds, the majority of which were originally inside the Cathedral: statues, tapestries, altarpieces, panels, gold and silver pieces. The Baptistery is the town's baptismal church and while small, is full of beautiful artwork. The Crypt dates back to the mid 1200s. In 1999 when restoration work was being performed in the church, portions of wall paintings were found in a room beneath the pulpit of the Cathedral. This room had been filled with rubble in the 1300s and left buried and concealed for nearly seven centuries. The Facciatone, the big facade, was originally intended to be the entryway into the cathedral, creating the biggest church in all Christendom. However after beginning construction, the town was struck by the bubonic plague which cut the population by 1/3 and killed their will and desire to finish the massive project. We climbed to the top of the Facciatone and got our best view of Siena. About the time we finished up in the Cathedral area, it started to lightly rain. We got a gelato so that we could sit down out of the rain (notice I used the rain as an excuse?). Then, picked up a few postcards, took the bus back to the train station and departed at 6:18 for our 1 1/2 hour ride back to Florence.