Corner La Trin: Medieval Siena

Siena is a medieval Gothic style town not far from Florence. The buildings are the style of the Middle Ages and had been built mainly in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. It is a truly beautiful town with a large square called Il Campo and the town also has a bell tower, Duomo, torture museum and the original city wall that surrounds it dates back to 1200s. Those were just the things that we were going to see, because we only had a day in Siena.

We headed to the square, where we saw the 103 metre tall bell tower, which we were going to climb.

il Campo square is the main square of Siena. It is shell-shaped and the center of it slants down to the entrance of the tower. Along the edges of it are lots of cafes and some shops, and the aromas of them just put my nose in heaven. This square held the annual event for which Siena is so famous for, the horse race.

il Palio, the horse race, is held each July and il Campo is packed when it occurs. The jockey's compete for the prestigious prize of the silk banner. It races on a circular course within the square, and lasts no longer than a minute that will make your hair stand on end with anticipation. I saw pictures of that race, the horses speeding round the cobbled floor, manes flying and the jockey's determined expressions. I wondered what it would be like to race in it...

One of our must do's while in Siena was to climb the Bell Tower. The bell tower is called Torre Mangia. Up and up we went, round and round, breath and breath. This bell tower had lots of stairs. It was stone and narrow. It was so much fun. When we finally reached the top I was flabbergasted. The amount of things I could see was, wow. Words could really not adequately describe all that my eyes were taking in, there was just so much. The Tuscan countryside stretched on and on before me. I could see vineyards and houses, farms and mountains, distant towns and castles, and, above all of this the azure blue sky. I'd never forget this.

After the tower, the amazing bell tower, we decided to have lunch. Well, not us, our stomachs. I had ordered pizza. Mmmmm... Delicious. I cut it, and bit into the slice. So... Good. Poetry for food. They should call it the Deliciouso pizza. Heavenly.

Next.. THE TORTURE MUSEUM. Dunh Dunh Dunh. Since Siena was a medieval town, and during middle ages, the court would sentence people to torture, and that was very common scenario. We bought our tickets and walked in, anticipating nervously what we would see.

I was spooked. So many forms of torture, so many ways to cause pain.. I mean, ouch! So many ways of death. The mild ones only caused shame or humiliation, but the severe ones caused long, agonizing death. In the middle were tools that damaged you, but didn't kill you, like mutilators. The ones that just clutched my heart with fear the most were, firstly, the one that stretched you till death, and, secondly, the water torture, that made you drink many liters of water then bend over to cause heart or lung damage. These images had been burned into my mind, and would stay for a long time. They were all creepy and painful... I was so glad that most of these inhumane tortures were illegal nowadays.

After seeing all of those painful ways of torture, I needed to see somewhere that had good spirits. So we headed to Siena's Duomo. This Duomo was Gothic. It had lots of sculptures and was beige in colour. We headed inside.

It was a brilliant piece of architecture. Pillars and columns danced across the marble, mosaic floor which was intricately arranged in 56 scenes. Frescos decorated the walls and ceilings and paintings were put on the walls. Organs and statues majestically stood out and caught my eye as they pranced around this enormous space. I loved it so much.

After we finished in the cathedral part of the Duomo, we headed to the Baptistry. It was a large room, rather cavernous, and had lots of gilded gold on the domed roof. Paintings were delicately hung on the walls. I sat down on one of the benches to take all of it in. It truly was beautiful.

The crypt, another part of the Duomo, was underground, rather cave like, and was a series of rooms, holding jars and canisters. When I had gone far enough, there was a ceiling window that allowed you to see the cathedral above you. I grinned widely at the people staring at me. Hee hee hee...

Finally, we visited the museum, which held old statues of the Duomo, taken down for new statues. I saw the twelve apostles and the saints, a stained glass window and some other statues that were unidentified! They were so detailed and pretty. I was awed...

I will never forget Sienna. It has such strong and beautiful character of its own, and it truly is a spectacular place.

One of many lane ways in Siena