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The Herald Scotland
7 days ago
- The Herald Scotland
I discovered a fascinating link between Scotland and the art of Siena
Siena, helped by its position on the Via Francigena, an important pilgrim and trade route to Rome, had risen as a centre of culture as well as of commerce after it defeated its rival Florence in 1260. Architecture and art in all forms flourished and Sienese painters, originally influenced by byzantine art, began to move away from stylized and devotional representations towards more secular, narrative portrayals. Some feature skilfully executed architecture, many are decorative and lyrical and others notable for the expressive and poetic faces. For those not lucky enough to be able to visit Siena, the exhibition Siena: The Rise of Painting 1300 - 1350 running at the National Gallery, London until June 22 contains fine examples. The artists included the Lorenzetti brothers and Simone Martini but it was undoubtedly Duccio who was the master. Fresco by Pinturicchio in the Piccolomini Library showing Aneas Silvius Piccolomino meeting King James I of Scotland (Image: unknown) It was in recognition that he had created something superb that the procession of the Maestà was arranged. To show it off it did not however, take the direct route to the cathedral but a more circuitous one and I realised that by following it, even today I would discover much of the art and architecture for which Siena is famous. The procession in fact headed straight down to the newly built Piazza del Campo which the year before had hosted the very first Palio, the horse race which still takes place every summer. It is a unique scallop-shaped space of great charm which, then as now, quickly established itself as the heart of Siena. Sheltered by tall imposing buildings and edged with cafes, there are fewer more pleasant places to sit and relax. Within the piazza is the town hall, the Palazzo Pubblico, an impressive example of medieval/gothic civic architecture. This was commissioned by The Nine, the governing body of the city, together with a series of magnificent frescoes still to be found in almost every room. The most outstanding are the enormous Allegories of Good and Bad Government painted in 1338 by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, which not only reminded citizens of the importance of good governance and the potential consequences of bad decisions but also provide us today with an unparalleled glimpse of 14th century Tuscan life. Piazza del Campo (Image: Visit Tuscany) Here too in the Sala del Mappamondo is Simone Martini's Maestà painted just after Duccio's as well as his fresco portrait of the mounted warlord Giudoricco da Fogiano, between the castles he had conquered, resplendent in the same striking livery as his horse. This is one of the first truly secular paintings created with both realism and imagination. From the Piazza the procession did not have far to travel to the cathedral but the followers may not have seen all its wonders as we do today because it took many years to complete. Conversely, if we want to see Duccio's Maestà now (many Sienese art works were lent to the London exhibition but this one remained firmly at home) we need to cross over to the Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana. There I sat quietly and contemplated the glorious masterpiece which, although stripped of some predellas and smaller paintings, still finds itself 714 years later at (almost) its original location. It remained on the high altar for some years and was then moved around the cathedral several times before being dismembered and sections sold off in the eighteenth century. It was moved to its present location in 1878 and now some 33 of the smaller sections are found in 10 collections in I 5 countries. Hotel Duomo in Siena (Image: Hotel Duomo) Before leaving the cathedral complex, I entered the Piccolomini Library where I came upon a fascinating link between Siena and Scotland. Amongst the frescos painted by Pinturicchio around 1505 there is one depicting King James 1 of Scotland receiving Aeneas Silivius Piccolmini, the future Pope Pius II. The king sits enthroned under a loggia surrounded by courtiers but there is nothing remotely Scottish about this rather enchanting scene. The style of the clothing is entirely Italian and the background, a lake on which a gondola-like boat sails, is as different from the Firth of Forth as one can imagine. Yet such a meeting did occur. In 1335 Aenaes Silvius, aged 30, did go to meet the Scottish monarch in Edinburgh on a mysterious diplomatic mission. He had many adventures including a shipwreck - he also got a Sienese lady pregnant…Later, another famous Scotsman, James Boswell while ostensibly looking at art on his Grand Tour also had several dalliances in Siena and was in fact the love object of Girolama Piccolomino, a situation from which he apparently, 'beat a hasty retreat.' Read more Of course Siena has much more to offer than art; there are numerous excellent restaurants: La Taverna del Capitano, Enoteca I Terzi, Ristorante il Particolare, Ristorante San Desidero and Ristorante il Tufo were amongst those wherein I enjoyed good local dishes. There are also all the smart shops one expects from a thriving Italian city but why not take the opportunity in this city so imbued with art, to buy enduring treasures from local artist and crafts people? A complete list of artisans can be found at For truly exquisite paintings ( expensive but worth it considering work involved) Chiara Perinetti Casoni together with her brother Paolo, use the old traditional techniques of wood, egg tempera and gilding to produce both copies and enchanting original works which capture the essence of the Sienese masters. Several other people including Marco Caratelli, offer similar works Siena is not only a beautiful city in itself but the visitor will find within it a unique treasure trove of beautiful things to enjoy. Duccio 's Maestà (Image: free) FACT BOX Patricia Cleveland-Peck travelled to Florence courtesy of Vueling Airlines. Flights from Edinburgh connect via Barcelona. She was hosted by Tuscany Official Tourism She stayed at the Hotel Duomo, Siena Thanks too to the Comune di Siena, Councillor Mrs Vanna Giunti and Veronika Wobbe. Also to the city guides, Giulia, Lucovica and Anna
The Irish Sun
24-04-2025
- The Irish Sun
The hidden sunshine spot with castles, shopping and delicious cuisine – and Ryanair flights from €35.99
WITH summer just around the corner, Irish holidaymakers may be looking for another place to enjoy the sun. And one spot in particular is perfect for exploring. 6 San Marino offers something for the whole family Credit: Alamy 6 San Marino has a rich history Credit: Alamy 6 The Old Town of San Marino Credit: Alamy San Marino is among the world's oldest republics and still has a large amount of historic architecture. The mountainous microstate is landlocked and surrounded by Italy, and offers a range of perks. The capital is situated on the slopes of Monte Titano, and is known for its medieval walled-town. This old town has narrow cobblestone streets and is ideal for history buffs. READ MORE IN TRAVEL Visitors can also see the Three Towers, castle-like citadels from the 11th century and Titano's neighbouring peaks. Torre Guaita is the oldest and largest of San Marino's castles, dating back to the 11th century. It was used as a prison as recently as 1975. It is one of three towers overlooking the city and resembles a fairytale castle. Most read in Travel To get there, it is a short walk uphill from central Liberty Square, home to the Palazzo Pubblico and cafés with outdoor seating areas. During the summer, there are a range of activities to enjoy, including the Changing of the Guard. 'It's very important' - Ryanair's 'baggage sizers' warning to Irish passengers ahead of busy Easter break amid €75 fine This is considered one of the summer highlights, taking place in Piazza della Libertà. It takes place several times daily between late June and mid-September. Or visit the Torre Cesta, which offers brilliant views of Rimini and the coast. It dates back to the 13th century and features a four-room museum devoted to medieval armaments. Or visit the Museo di Stato, where you can see a range of art, history, furniture and cultural objects, including the Domagnano Treasure—an Ostrogothic trove of jewels dating back to the 5th and 6th centuries. The UNESCO Historic Centre of San Marino is a must-see with its rich history and panoramic views. WARMER CLIMATE The town has a mild climate, making it perfect for relaxing in the heat. Sun worshippers can soak up the rays in the Rimini area, less than 20 miles away. Bagno Egisto is a beautiful white sandy beach with a large playground. Keep the whole family entertained at Marina di Viserbella beach, which has fun outdoor games for all ages. Fashion fans can find a bargain at the San Marino Outlet, which stocks luxury brands including Prada, Guess and Roberto Cavalli. Or visit the Atlante Shopping Centre to pick up some popular Italian brands. There is a range of culinary delights available in the town, including many Italian dishes. A pint costs around €3.30. Ryanair offers flights to Bologna from €35.99, a journey of around two and a half hours. Then, you can head from Bologna to San Marino which takes almost two hours. 6 There are a number of beaches in Rimini Credit: Alamy 6 San Marino has a mild climate Credit: Alamy 6 San Marino is among the world's oldest republics Credit: Alamy
Telegraph
08-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Forget tourist-clogged Florence – this is Tuscany's best city by a mile
The Piazza del Campo, Siena's main square, is surely the most theatrical public space in the whole of Tuscany. Shaped like a giant scallop shell, it forms a sort of amphitheatre where the main roads which once led into the city met on a gentle slope near the top of this ancient hill town. The cobbled arena slopes gently down to the most impressive of the buildings which surround the piazza – the civic hall, a crenellated red-brick medieval palace with a stepped façade, a lower storey encrusted in white marble and rows of gothic windows trimmed with the same stone. Sprouting from one side is the great, top-heavy tower – the tallest in Italy when it was finished in 1348. It is this remarkable building that I have come to see. The clue to its historic significance is in its official name – the Palazzo Pubblico. It wasn't built by a domineering seigniorial family like the Medici or by domineering dukes like those of Mantua or Milan. This was a public – or perhaps better – a people's palace, the home of a unique system of government which was developed after Siena became a republic in 1280. A ruling council of nine men – the Nove – was established and its members were elected on rotation. It was hardly what we would think of as a democracy – these men were chosen from an elite of only 500 out of a population of about 80,000. But the Nove provided a common vision and the stability needed for Siena to develop an international banking and trading empire which brought with it enormous wealth, as well as a fierce rivalry with its Tuscan neighbour, Florence. Florence usually triumphed in military encounters, but by the middle of the 14th century, Siena was one of the most progressive, powerful and richest city states in the world. And the way that Siena best liked to demonstrate its status was through art and architecture. The lavish building projects underway in the first half of the 14th century were unparalleled in Europe – and even its great rival Florence had to bow to the artists who flourished here. Duccio, Simone Martin, and the Lorenzetti brothers, Pietro and Ambrogio, were among the most celebrated painters of their time. As a new exhibition of medieval Sienese art which opens at the National Gallery today demonstrates, it was a city in love with colour and extravagance. But while you can enjoy some of its most stunning artistic treasures in the London exhibition, the greatest of all can only be seen in Siena itself. Most appealing, in my view, is the series of frescoes on the walls of one of the state rooms where the Nove met in the Palazzo Pubblico. Made by Ambrogio Lorenzetti and his workshop in 1338-1339, they illustrate and contrast the consequences of good and bad government. The National Gallery curators describe them as 'one of the most exceptional visualisations of the mechanisms of government and its moral purpose ever made.' For the casual viewer, they are also a highly engaging insight into Siena when it was at the peak of its glory, 700 years ago. The 46ft-long mural of the Well-Governed City depicts the Siena as a jumble of towers and buildings – you can spot the green and white marble stripes of the cathedral in the distance, while the foreground is full of vignettes of everyday life. There is a wedding party, a teacher lecturing in a school room, men playing a board game, huntsmen heading for the forest and reapers working in the fields beyond. By contrast on the wall opposite, the Badly Governed City depicts a society dominated by a tyrant. The figure of Justice lies captive and bound, tormented by Cruelty and Deceit, Fury and War. Unlike the Well-Governed City, the streets are half-empty, the houses are beginning to fall into ruin, and only the armourer does a good trade. In the centre in the foreground, a man lies dead on the street. The warning to the Nove about their responsibilities could hardly be clearer. Every time I have seen it, however, I'm struck by the terrible irony inherent in this scene; an unintended prediction of what was going to happen here just ten years later, not because of the failings of the Nove, but because of Europe's worst ever pandemic. Only weeks after the Palazzo Pubblico was finally completed in 1348 and the last of the wooden scaffolding was removed from the tower, Siena was laid waste. Nearly 700 years after the event, few eye-witness descriptions of the horrific impact of the Black Death in Europe have survived. But an account by Agnolo di Tura, a shoemaker from Siena, is one of the most powerful. Agnolo survived and chronicled a plague which killed, in just a few weeks, more than half the population, including all five of his own children. His description includes eery echoes of Lorenzetti's fresco. 'And the city of Siena seemed deserted… No bells tolled and there was no one who wept for any death, for all awaited death… So many died that all believed that it was the end of the world. Those that survived were like persons distraught and almost without feeling.' And in many ways, it was the end of a world. Siena's golden age was stopped suddenly in its tracks. The Palazzo Pubblico may have been finished, but the spectacular project to transform Siena's great cathedral into the largest church in Christendom was abandoned. You can still see the roofless walls of what would have been an enormous nave built at right angles to the original building. The empty frame stands as a monument to the moment that Siena's world stopped turning. Of course, like all European cities, it found a way to survive and, eventually, to prosper again. But the days when it outshone Florence were over. Though, maybe not… Today, while Florence often feels choked with tourists, Siena remains relatively free of disruption – especially in the evenings when the day trippers have left. Not only is it much quieter, but it is much more compact than its ancient rival, and the views out over the Tuscan countryside are even more spectacular. For a peaceful cultural break where you can enjoy some of the most beautiful art ever made, there is only one winner. The wonders of medieval Siena Siena's network of narrow cobbled streets and many of its red-brick houses, churches and palaces are medieval in origin. But its artistic treasures are hidden away in museums. Here are some of the best. The Duomo Work on the Duomo began in 1226, when Siena was enjoying a surge in prosperity and it was largely completed by 1311, when one of the most important paintings ever made was installed above the high altar – Duccio's shimmering Maesta (Virgin in Majesty). Now in the Opera del Duomo museum next door, it was, at the time, the most expensive panel painting ever made in Europe and is also the earliest surviving double-sided altarpiece. So proud was the city of its new masterpiece, that the work was paraded through the streets before its installation behind the altar. The important relic of Medieval Sienese Art still in the Duomo itself is Pisano' pulpit, carved out of Carrara marble between 1265 and 1268 and embellished with seven scenes from the Life of Christ. Some of the greatest painters and sculptors of the 15th- and 16th-centuries were also enticed to Siena and the Duomo is home to works by Donatello and the young Michelangelo as well as frescos by Pinturicchio and Raphael in the Piccolomini Library. Down in the Baptistry, the sculpted bronze panels around the font are by Jacopo della Quercia and also Donatello and Ghiberti, who came from Florence to work on it. The Palazzo Pubblico As well as the wonderful 14th-century frescoes by Lorenzetti (see above) the Palazzo has a spectacular art collection, including a splendid frescoed Maesta – the first known work by Simone Martini, who was almost certainly trained by Duccio. The Pinacoteca Nazionale This wonderfully quiet and under-visited museum, in the 15th-century former Palazzo Buonsignori is a pleasure to explore compared with the heaving galleries of the Uffizi in Florence. Among the highlights are works by Duccio and Martini and what may be Ambrogio Lorenzetti's last work, a wonderfully tender Annunciation which, ironically, was commissioned by the city tax collector and once hung in the Palazzo Pubblico. The Palio In its current form, the historic Palio, when horses representing ten of the city's seventeen contrade (districts) race around the Piazza del Campo, dates back to 1644. But its origins were medieval. It's still a splendid sight. Turn up early enough and you can enjoy it for free from the central compound. The two races take place on July 2 and August 16. How to do it Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300 ‒1350 is at the National Gallery from March 8 -June 22 (admission £20). Nick Trend was a guest of the the Grand Hotel Continental in Siena which is housed in a 17th-century palazzo and is Siena's only five-star hotel. Doubles from about £280 per night (room only).
The Independent
23-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
The insider's tour of the Tuscan city at the heart of Renaissance painting
Ten kilometres east of Siena, a mound rises above a Tuscan valley studded with stone-built farmhouses. It's a scramble to the top of the tumuli (or burial mounds), but it's worth it: looking to the horizon I can see the silhouetted outline of the city's still largely extant medieval centre. Behind me, among the cypress trees that crowd the summit, I find an obelisk memorialising the death of more than 30,000 men who fell when Florence tried and failed to defeat its rival city state at the Battle of Montaperti in 1260. That's a long time ago, but for some, history still rankles, and if you're the kind of traveller who likes an ancient gripe as much as an ancient building, then Siena – pitted against its neighbour for centuries – is the place to be. And it's not just Montaperti that irks – there's the Renaissance as well. Ever since the virulently pro-Florentine 16th-century artist and writer Giorgio Vasari drastically downplayed Siena's importance, art historians have been giving Florence the credit for starting the Renaissance. But as will become clear in a revelatory new show at the National Gallery in London, featuring artists like Duccio, Martini, and the brothers Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti – with works reunited, in some cases, for the first time in centuries – it was the emergence of a new kind of painter in 14th-century Siena that enabled the revolution. All of them were encouraged by an enlightened merchant republic governed by a revolving council of nine, which treated painters as artists rather than artisans. Back in town, I find rich evidence of this at the staggering brick and stone headquarters the republic built, the Palazzo Pubblico. Finished in 1310, the Palazzo is one of the wonders of medieval Europe, and once I've got the Tuscan mud off my boots, I head inside for two more vistas. First from the front, which overlooks the scallop-shaped Piazza del Campo, where the Palio horse races are run every July and August between the city's districts (contrade). Then, from the back of the Palazzo, an open terrace looks out across fields. This was where the nine, who were not permitted to leave the building for the duration of their year in office, would come to check the republic's crops were all in good order, knowing that behind them the painters were hard at work embellishing the Palazzo's walls. The painters' work is still there, and soon I stand gobsmacked in front of Simone Martini's huge 1315 fresco Maesta, in the Palazzo's Sala del Mappamondo. Taking up an entire wall, it shows the Virgin Mary in her majesty beneath a canopy attended by the saints. But only a staircase away from the Maesta, in the Chamber of Nine where the ruling council would meet, another work even better exemplifies this new relationship between authority and art: Ambrogio Lorenzetti's series of frescos titled the Allegory of Good and Bad Government, painted between 1338 and 1339. I'm funnelled with other visitors up the staircase, but our chat falls away when we emerge beneath Lorenzetti's masterpiece, each of us coming to the hushed realisation that we have entered a magical portal to the 14th century and its social and philosophical aspirations. One side of the room shows a rural chaos peopled by devils, the other a happy and industrious populace going about their business in the ochre-brick and grey-stone streets, or making merry with tambourines. The Sienese today live, work and study in pretty much the same medieval city, spread along an axis between the Franciscans at the Oratorio di San Bernardino and the Dominicans at the Basilica Caterina San Domenico church, a huge brick barn erected in the early 13th century. Navigating around this axis, I stumble upon the bone-white 13th-century Duomo (cathedral), which is on the pilgrim route to Rome, along with the Pinacoteca Nazionale, a wonderful museum in a former palazzo dedicated to Siena's late medieval and early Renaissance art, and finally my hotel, the sublimely old-school Grand Continental. This is another former palazzo, and the only five-star hotel within the city walls. From my room, I can see the Duomo and the Basilica Caterina San Domenico balanced on top of the steep ridge I'd seen from Montaperti. Just how steep becomes clear later on: having been tempted down plunging alleyways by the smell of cooking, I return sated by pappa al pomodoro and ravioli stuffed with ricotta and herbs, and have to clamber back up past street-corner flags that mark the territory of the contrade. I end up, as all visitors do, back at the Piazza del Campo, sipping a contemplative digestivo in a happily thronged bar and considering all those thousands of bricks before me. Even when it's littered with tipsy revellers, it's a space that, like Lorenzetti's Allegory of Good and Bad Government, seems to embody all the admirable civic virtues of medieval Italy. All it lacks is tambourines. Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300 -1350 is at London's National Gallery from 8 March until 22 June 2025
