Rick Steves Italy 2016 by Rick Steves

Author:Rick Steves
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Avalon Travel
Published: 2015-03-03T16:00:00+00:00

CATHEDRAL AREA

The cathedral-related sights (Duomo, Duomo Museum, Crypt, and Baptistery) can be visited with separate tickets, or with the €12 Opa Si combo-ticket (worthwhile only if you’ll visit all four sights). The €20 Opa Si Plus combo-ticket adds a guided visit to the Duomo rooftop. All tickets are sold only at the office near the entrance to the Duomo Museum—to the right as you face the cathedral facade—no tickets are sold at sight entrances.

▲▲▲Duomo

Siena’s 13th-century cathedral and striped bell tower are one of the most illustrious examples of Romanesque-Gothic style in Italy. The interior showcases the work of the greatest sculptors of every era—Pisano, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Bernini—and the Piccolomini Library features a series of 15th-century frescoes chronicling the adventures of Siena’s philanderer-turned-pope, Aeneas Piccolomini.

Cost: €4 includes cathedral and Piccolomini Library, buy ticket at Duomo Museum entrance (facing the cathedral entry, the museum is 100 yards to the right, near the south transept). To add the Duomo Museum, Crypt, and Baptistery, consider the €12 Opa Si combo-ticket; to add an escorted visit into the dome and rooftop (described below), pay €20 for the Opa Si Plus combo-ticket.

Check the line to get into the Duomo before buying tickets—if there’s a long wait, you can pay an extra €1 for a “reservation” that lets you skip the line (available at the “reserved/fast entrance” queue).

Hours: March-Oct Mon-Sat 10:30-19:00, Sun 13:30-18:00; Nov-Feb closes daily at 17:30.

Dress Code: Modest dress is required, but stylish paper ponchos are provided for the inappropriately clothed.

Information: Tel. 0577-286-300, www.operaduomo.siena.it.

Tours: The videoguide (rent in the nave, €6) is informative but dry. I’d stick with the commentary in this section.

Cathedral Roof Visit: The Opa Si Plus combo-ticket includes all of the cathedral sights plus a 30-minute accompanied Porta del Cielo (“Heaven’s Gate”) visit to the dome’s cupola and roof (timed-entry ticket, escorted visits of 18 people go each half-hour, March-Oct Mon-Sat from 10:30-18:00, Sun 13:30-17:00, less frequent off-season, tel. 0577-286-300 for advance reservations).

Self-Guided Tour: Grab a spot on a stone bench opposite the entry to take in this architectural festival of green, white, pink, and gold.

Exterior View: Like a medieval altarpiece, the facade is divided into sections, each frame filled with patriarchs and prophets, studded with roaring gargoyles, and topped with prickly pinnacles.

The current structure dates back to 1215, with the major decoration done during Siena’s heyday (1250-1350). The lower story, by Giovanni Pisano (who worked from 1284 to 1297), features remnants of the fading Romanesque style (round arches over the doors), topped with the pointed arches of the new Gothic style that was seeping in from France. The upper half, in full-blown frilly Gothic, was designed and built a century later.

• Step inside, putting yourself in the mindset of a pilgrim as you take in this trove of religious art.

Nave: The heads of 172 popes—who reigned from the time of St. Peter to the 12th century—peer down from above, looking over the fine inlaid art on the floor. With a forest of striped columns, a coffered dome, a large stained-glass

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