Skip to main content

SIENA CATHEDRAL'S MARBLE FLOOR UNCOVERED: August 18 to October 27, 2014

No doubt Siena's social highlight in August is the Palio horse race (Palio dell'Assunta on August 16), which is shortly followed by a cultural highlight - the uncovering of the entire intarsia marble floor of Siena's cathedral. 

 As every year the spectacular marble floor will remain uncovered for two months until the end of October. For the remaining ten months the art works which are lining the surface of Siena's cathedral are mostly covered up to protect them from wear and tear. 

Siena's marble floor seen from above during the Gate to Heaven visit


 A special add on in 2013 are the night time visits to the cathedral each Saturday (book ahead for a guided visit between 8 pm and midnight), and the possibility to combine the visit with the guided tours to the cathedral's roof, which will allow you to see the whole of the uncovered floor from above. A first time ever! 

Whether you love Wagner or not, in the year the music world is celebrating his bicentennial, it's worth remembering his rapture when visiting Siena's cathedral. His wife Cosima noted in her diary, that Richard was moved to tears by the splendor of the building. So much so that he decided to use the cathedral's cupola as the model for the temple of the graal in his last opera Parsifal. 

 For more details about the technique and history of one of Siena's masterpieces read the article I wrote about it last year: The marble floor of Siena's cathedral. 

The richly decorated facade of Siena's cathedral at golden hour
Siena's cathedral at sunset
SIENA CATHEDRAL MARBLE FLOOR UNCOVERED: 18 AUGUST TO OCTOBER 27, 2014

OPENING TIMES OF THE CATHEDRAL
Monday to Saturday 10.30 am to 7.30 pm
Sunday 9.30 am to 6 pm

TICKETS (at the ticket office near the Opa museum)
Opa Si Pass all inclusive ticket €12,00 (best option if you also want to visit baptistery, crypt and the Opa museum)
Cathedral with marble floor and Piccolomini library € 7,00
Porta del Cielo (gate to heaven) guided tour, plus entrance to cathedral and Piccolomini library € 25,00
Read my review if you're thinking to book the Gate to Heaven guided visit (I highly recommend it).

GUIDED VISITS
Daily at 11 am, noon, 3.30 pm and 4:30 pm. 
Multimedia guides are available if you missed out on the guided tour.

NIGHTTIME VISITS each Saturday from August 24 to October 26 on reservation only.
Phone: +39 0577 28 63 00; Email: opasiena@operalaboratori.com
More info on the Opera Duomo website. 



Labels:
Location: Piazza del Duomo, 53100 Siena SI, Italia

Popular posts from this blog

Ambrogio Lorenzetti's frescoes and paintings

From toddlers to octogenarians, when in Siena I schlepp everybody to see Ambrogio Lorenzetti's 'Buon Governo'. The long title of the painting is 'The Allegory of Good and Bad Government in the City and the Countryside' and it is exactly that - namely an accurate depiction of daily life in medieval Siena. The detailed and elegant fresco cycle is a rarity not just in regard to Lorenzetti's style and technique, but mainly due to its subject matter. In the 14th century, paintings and frescoes focus on stories and characters from the old and new testament and  not on the day-to-day tasks of builders and farmers.  Medieval Siena depicted on one of the walls of Ambrogio Lorenzetti's fresco cycle in the Palazzo Pubblico (©Wikipedia) And this is exactly why it's so much fun to spend some time in front of the fresco cycle in the  civic museum in Siena's Palazzo Pubblico. Whether its kids  - or meat lovers - looking for the famous Cinta Senese pig  ...
Read on...»

EMIGRATION VS. IMMIGRATION: A MEMORY OF ITALY IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Understand a bit of Italian? This is the night to figure out how much regarding a topic that seems a bit removed but actually isn't at all.  Italy entered the first world war exactly a hundred years ago on the 24th of May 1915. 600'000 Italian soldiers died during the war. Many of them were 'Italians' born in Brasil or Argentina who traveled to Europe as young men to fight for a country they had never put foot on before. 150'000 of Italy's soldiers in the first world war had been born in Brazil, Argentina and other  countries their parents had had to migrate to for a better future abroad. An important fact to consider when we read the daily headlines regarding todays incessantly growing immigration to Italy and Europe via Lybia.  'La storia quasi vera del milite ignoto' is told by Emilio Franzina, the writer of the book with the same title, which tells the story of a young soldier born in Brasil to Italian parents of Venetian heritage.  ...
Read on...»

MATERA IS ITALY'S EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE 2019

Matera has won the title of European Capital of Culture and even though we're disappointed in Tuscany, this is a well deserved victory. From the start of the competition Matera has been an eye-catcher. The bottom-up approach of its bid was impressive and once the city council married the idea of Matera's candidature (it had initially been born by a private group of people), the committee was swift in connecting the young and creative local scene to European and international forces. Hang on there, this party isn't over yet! #Siena2019 In regard to digital involvement Matera was the benchmark for the other Italian candidate cities with its great website and busy interaction on every possible social media channel from day one of the competition.  But what must have been most important to the jury, Matera put together a soundproof bid book called 'Open Future/Open City', which has already started to infuse the people of the Basilicata (once mainly known as Ita...
Read on...»