Publico Palazzo, Palio, and Piero

I literally gasped as we rounded the corner and saw Siena’s Duomo. Eerily similar to Florence’s Duomo in coloring and elegance, Siena’s cathedral stands grandly over the town with its gothic spears pointed towards the heavens. That’s the main difference between Florence’s and Siena’s Duomos—Florence’s is Romanesque in style while Siena’s is gothic. Siena and Florence are rivals, though, and their cathedrals are part of the competition. Think Carolina vs. Duke, Georgia Tech vs. Georgia, Alabama vs. Auburn, Army vs. Navy, Meredith vs. Peace. For a very short time, Siena was the big dog in Italy and was even the capital before Florence took over the position (all before Rome won it all in the end). It was the fault of the black plague that Siena fell and Florence was able to take over. While Siena was capital, it was in the process of building what was to be the largest and most breathtaking Duomo in the entire country. When the plague struck, it took out with it the majority of Siena’s population, and the construction of the Duomo ceased. What had already been completed of the building stands as the present day Duomo. Siena’s fall allowed Florence to catch up in power, become capital, and build what is the bigger and therefore more beautiful Duomo between the two cities (of course it’s a matter of opinion on the beauty part). They say you have an allegiance to either Siena or Florence. I enjoyed our day in Siena, and do find the town and its Duomo very beautiful, but my heart still lies with Florence. Besides, I find Romanesque architecture more aesthetically pleasing than gothic; all of the jaggedness and spears and points are unappealing to my eyes.

















Some of you may have heard of Siena due to the famous “Palio di Siena” horse race that takes place in the city every July and August. The Palio is a competition between the seventeen different contrade—the districts that the walled portion of Siena are divided into. In addition to a Palio team, each contrada has a fountain in its district with its symbol on it, a church it is associated with, and a flag. The city takes the Palio and their contrade very seriously. The races are held in “Il Campo,” the main square, which is very large and shaped in a semi-circle, and there are two Palio horse race winners every year—one for July and one for August. In the Church of San Domenico, which we visited while in Siena, the flags of the two winning contrade from the past year are in flag holders at the front of the church on either side of the altar. The rest of the contrade flags were lined along each side wall leading up to the altar; just a mere example of the significance Siena gives their contrade. In order to indulge myself in the true Siena experience, I went ahead and chose a contrada with which to associate myself. There were many to choose from so I narrowed it down by picking symbols I liked (many of the symbols are animals, but a few are other objects), and finally decided to pick between the two nautical-themed contrade symbols. Since the fish for the fish contrada looked ugly and mean, I went with the seashell, whose flag colors are a beautiful navy blue background with red and yellow designs. I will from here on out pledge my allegiance to the seashell contrada of Siena, and will cheer for it diligently if ever I shall attend a Palio race (which someday I do hope to do).
*For all of my North Carolinians, the Siena hotel and Palio restaurant in Chapel Hill is….yep! You guessed it, named after the city of Siena, Italy and its Palio races.
*For James Bond fans, there are Palio race scenes in “Quantum of Solace,” filmed in the actual Campo in Siena, Italy.







While in Siena, we also visited the Palazzo Publico—what used to be the main governing building in Siena. If you have ever been to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC then think of that gorgeous house and multiply it times ten. The Biltmore is full of gorgeous fabric covered walls, a different textured ceiling in almost every room, and gorgeous furniture spread throughout. The Publico Palazzo is as ornate as the Biltmore Estate, except done with different media—the wall and ceiling coverings are all frescoes, done by hand, with miniscule details. It is almost too much to take in; you walk through the museum wanting to appreciate the sculptures, art work, and building itself, but there is too much for your little eyes to absorb. You could spend hours in the building, staring at the intricate details of the frescos on the wall—how each face is painted perfectly, each border is made to look as if three dimensional, each design done with care, and I’m sure you would still miss something. Housed in the Publico Palazzo, though, are the famous “Good Government” and “Bad Government” frescoes done by Ambrogio Lorenzetti. The bad government piece is fading and pieces have come off, so it’s hard to take in the entire scene and really appreciate the piece. The people, figures, and buildings in each artwork are small and spread over a large area, so both are difficult to study in great length for great detail, but are powerful all the same.

As for life in Sansepolcro and the Palazzo Alberti, things couldn’t be better. We are still eating the most delicious, authentic Italian meals every day for lunch, are still enjoying a weekly movie night on Thursdays, still trying to speak Italian, and are still relaxing in our beautifully furnished rooms. Today in Art History we went to the Museo Civico right here in Sansepolcro that houses some of Piero della Franesca’s masterpieces. Piero Della Francesca was born in Sansepolcro, and spent his artist career painting here. Remember Fra Angelico’s frescoes from the San Marco museum in Florence I previously talked about? Piero della Francesca knew Fra Angelico, who introduced him to several other leading contemporaries of his time. Small world, huh? One of Francesca’s most well-known pieces is actually said to have saved the city from being bombed during World War II. How this one painting saved an entire city you ask? Aldous Huxley wrote an essay in which he described Francesco’s piece, “The Resurrection,” as being “the greatest painting in the world.” The British captain who was in charge of the artillery fire towards Sansepolcro had read Huxley’s essay and did not want “the greatest painting in the world” to be ruined; therefore, Sansepolcro and the painting were saved. “The Resurrection” still sits in its original location on a wall in the Museo Civico, which use to house town government business.





































































We have our first long travel break this weekend and I’m anxiously awaiting and planning for my trip to Bologna and Ferrara with a few of the other girls. It is sure to be lots of fun, with lots and lots of wonderful food, and I look forward to blogging about it next week.

Ciao for now,
Hilary