One day in Siena!

One day in Siena!
Siena is one of the most loved and visited city in Tuscany, a place rich of history and art but also of strong traditions, principally linked to the quarters and to the famous Palio di Siena.
But, what can you see in Siena in less than 24 hours?

PIAZZA DEL CAMPO 
Piazza del Campo is really unique and unmistakable: thanks to its particular shell shape and to its brick color given by the cotta flooring and by the coating of the palaces which overlooked it, if you positioned yourself in the center of the square, you feel like enveloped by a warm hug.

FONTE GAIA
In Piazza del Campo you can admire Fonte Gaia, the biggest fountain of the city that, in its original version, was decorated by Jacopo della Quercia. The Fonte that we can see nowadays is a copy, realized with Carrara marble, which is really more resilient than the original Marmo della Montagnola Senese used by Della Quercia.

LA TORRE DEL MANGIA
One of the most beautiful landscape of the city is visible from Torre del Mangia, the civic tower, 87 meters high. The climb is laborious: over 400 steps  a little steep and narrow, but the view at 360 which waits you is, without any doubt, spectacular.

PIAZZA DEL DUOMO
The visit of the City proceeds towards Piazza del Duomo: in this place you can admire other treasuries of Siena. Among these, the Duomo, the Cripta and the Piccolomini Library. In recent times, it was introduced a new iter to be done inside the Duomo, called “La porta del Cielo” which allows to do a tour of the cathedral from above.

DUOMO DI SANTA MARIA ASSUNTA
The Siena Cathedral (Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta) is one of the most notable church in Romanesque-Gothic Italian style. Magnificent, almost dazzling due to the extensive use of white marble, the Duomo fascinates even also from the outside. Inside-door the Cathedral is embellished by operas of Donatello, Nicola Pisano, Michelangelo and Pinturicchio. The internal area is decoratd, as the outside one, by white and dark green marble, which are the representative colors of Siena.

PICCOLOMINI LIBRARY
The Piccolomini Library, edicated to Papa Pio II, hits for the richness of its fresco, realized by Pinturicchio and by its students, among which Raffaello Sanzio at the beginning of the 1500s. There are painted not only the walls of the Library, but also the ceilings, bright for the abundant use of gold.

THE BAPTISTERY 
The Baptistery of Siena is entitled to San Giovanni and it was built in 1300 when it has been decide to extend the Cathedral. it is possible to reach the Baptistery from the star of San Giovanni Square and it is impossible not to note that the marble facade is still incomplete. The most precious opera conserved in the Baptistery is the amazing Baptismal Font that was constructed by several of the greatest sculptors of the Renaissance: Jacopo della Quercia, Lorenzo Ghiberti and Donatello.

SANTA MARIA DELLA SCALA
Santa Maria della Scala complex is, first of all, one of the ancient hospital of Europe, when it was used to welcome the pilgrims and to help poor and abandoned kids. Santa Maria della Scala, which restoration is not completed yet, hosts a  wide artistic patrimony. Disposed among four levels, it is a sort of “city in the city”.