sienna

sienna was originally called sena julia by the romans in the 1st century bc, after their arrival. it is protected by the saint catherine (santa caterina), who was born in this city. in 1966, sienna was the first city in europe to unauthorise the circulation of cars inside the actual city. what bliss for a wandering tourist!
the "piazza il campo" is something splendid. its an enormous square with restaurants and cafés running around it and the town hall on one side. we spent a while lazing in the sun, snacking on focaccia, before heading to the "duomo".
the cathedral was nothing that i had ever seen before. the rose, green and white façade was both on the ext. and the int. (causing a slight zebra effect). the floor of the cathedral is an untique example of marble inlay and graffito decoration. it started in the 14th century and was completed only in the 1800's. it consists of 56 'cartoons' by numerous artists, stating the entire history of mankind. it starts with the grco-roman wisdom, with philosophy and the prophecies, leads into the old testament then to the new, whereby truth is reached by God. the floor is normally covered for most of the year, so to protect it from the wear of time.
it was all so magnificant and the frescos so alive and detaimed, it was difficult to take it all in. the city was calm (perhaps because it was a sunday?) which was great. a nice change from rome.