Siena, Italy: Medieval Modernity Untouched

Abstract

photo : tristan porto January–February 2014 • 5 M ost of us have wondered, at some point in our lives, what it would feel like to live in Italy during the days of real family feuds, jousting, and castles. The Tuscan city of Siena, centered in the heart of the Italian peninsula, peaked during the Middle Ages and Renaissance and remains highly connected to its medieval history. If you ever find yourself there, it will likely be the closest you come to a twenty-first-century medieval Italian experience, especially during Palio season. The main event of Siena, the Palio was established in the fourteenth century. Since then, the city has been divided up into contrade, or neighborhood districts. Each district holds a biannual (June and August) jousting competition in the Piazza del Campo, the largest central location of the city surrounded by government offices, churches, and actual medieval castles. This Palio still exists today among the seventeen contrade of Siena and is one of the most revered events throughout Italy. Dario Castagno explains the Palio in great depth in his Too Much Tuscan Sun, making tourists aware of the complexity behind a seemingly simple concept: a horse race and a public gathering. Siena is also famous for one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture I have ever seen—the Duomo di Siena (the Siena Cathedral). The Gothic Romanesque style throughout the cathedral could make even the staunchest futurist melt with its vivacity. An extravagantly decorated room of this cathedral hosts the illuminated Latin books of one of the greatest Renaissance scholars, Pope Enea Silvio Piccolomini. The Piccolomini library has precisely hand-drawn choir books and many other precious religious manuscripts that beautifully combine artwork and literature. Today, visitors are allowed to walk through the entirety of the fully frescoed library and view these books at their leisure. Siena still radiates with the medieval vibrancy of the fourteenth century. It is a city lined with cobblestoned Tuscan hills that will tone your legs in no time. There are beautiful medieval churches, homey little souvenir shops with hand-painted glassware, generations-old bakeries , and chic new shopping districts. This unique balance of the old and new is vividly present in nearly every literary work written in or about the city of Siena. – Janny Gandhi notebook Siena, Italy Medieval Modernity Untouched Books to Read on the Cathedral Steps Too Much Tuscan Sun By Dario Castagno & Robert Rodi The Sword and the Pen: Women, Politics, and Poetry in Sixteenth-century Siena By Konrad Eisenbichler Daughter of Siena By Marina Fiorato Juliet By Anne Fortier Catherine of Siena By Sigrid Undset Janny Gandhi is a prelaw intern at WLT. City Profile ...