My first visit to Siena was in 2010. It was a rainy day and we got lost on the way to the city centre (which is quite an achievement: Siena is not that big). We had lunch at a mediocre restaurant that served factory-made tiramisu, which really should be a…
The Piccolominis were a prominent and influential family from Siena. Their influence was not confined to the city itself: two of the family’s most famous members became popes. Enea Silvio Piccolomini (1405-1464) was elected Pope Pius II in 1458 and held that position until his death in 1464. His nephew…
Siena’s Baptistery of San Giovanni is a remarkable building. It was actually built more or less underneath the city’s cathedral. In 1317, the Opera del Duomo – that is, the institution in charge of the cathedral – wanted to extend the choir of the Duomo. This was, however, rather difficult.…
The Palazzo Pubblico is one of Siena’s most famous landmarks. It was constructed between 1297 and 1310 for the Governo dei Nove, the Council of Nine, one of the most important bodies of Siena’s republican government in those days. The Palazzo was extended and enlarged in later centuries and is…
This church in Siena was easy to see, but difficult to find. I had already spotted it while standing on top of the Facciatone, the end of the unfinished nave of Siena’s cathedral. But actually finding it proved to be a whole lot tougher. In fact, we got lost in…
A visit to the church of San Francesco can be considered the highlight of any trip to Arezzo. The church itself is not very special. It was built in the second half of the thirteenth century (ca. 1290) and acquired its present form in the Tuscan-Gothic style about one hundred…
The Santa Maria della Pieve is a church in the centre of Arezzo, next to the famous Piazza Grande and not far from the Duomo. Its shape is a bit odd (it is crooked, as this plan clearly shows), and its facade is even odder. A pieve is a rural…
We stumbled upon this lovely little church when we were kind of lost, looking for Vasari’s house in Arezzo. The San Domenico was not in our travel guide, but the information on the panel in the piazza sounded quite promising. The Dominicans have been present in Arezzo since about 1236…
My first visit to Arezzo was in 2009. It was a complete fiasco. My friend had fallen off his bicycle, and we spent the entire day at the hospital. The only other building in the city that I saw that day was the railway station. Seven years later, I had…
The Opera del Duomo was the institution that was founded by the Florentine government in 1296 to oversee the construction of the new cathedral, the Santa Maria del Fiore or Duomo. It was the organisation in which architects, artists and workers collaborated. The Opera has been at its present location…
It has to be said that the church of Orsanmichele does not look much like a church. The building is surrounded by narrow streets, and the best way to observe it from a distance is to find a high lookout point. The tower of the Palazzo Vecchio, some 160 metres…
The Santa Reparata is not a church in Florence: it was a church in Florence. It was in fact the cathedral of the city before the Santa Maria del Fiore (better known as the Duomo) was built at the end of the thirteenth century. Remains of the Santa Reparata can…
The Santa Croce is the principal church of the Franciscans in Florence. It is one of the largest Franciscan churches in the world, perhaps even the largest. The basilica can be found on the Piazza Santa Croce, which is the location of the annual Calcio storico or historical football in…
This huge Dominican church should be on every list for a daytrip to Florence. The church can be found just to the south of the Santa Maria Novella railway station in the city centre, so it is easy to reach even if you have limited time. It is not just…
I had limited time to visit this ancient Benedictine abbey in the centre of Florence, which is more than a thousand years old. We had to catch our train back to Rignano sull’Arno, so I had to hurry. My visit to the Badia Fiorentina was further complicated by the fact…
This small church in the centre of Florence, in one of the oldest neighbourhoods of the city, is more of a chapel really. It can be found in a narrow alley, about halfway between the Duomo and the Badia. The Museo Casa di Dante is just a little further down…
I saw the movie Inferno this weekend. Since it is set in Florence for a large part (as well as in Venice and Istanbul), I think it is appropriate to post my review here. Inferno is the movie adaptation of Dan Brown’s novel of the same name. Story Both the…
No matter how many times I have seen it, Florence’s cathedral continues to impress me, and for many reasons. The Duomo is simply huge, with a length of some 153 metres and a nave width of 38 metres (90 metres at the crossing). It can accommodate at least 20.000 people.…
An old legend claims that Florence’s beautiful Baptistery of San Giovanni was originally a temple of Mars, the Roman god of war. The Roman emperor Augustus supposedly had it built to celebrate the subjugation of nearby Fiesole (Faesulae in those days) and the early Christians later converted it into a…
In April of 2016, I saw the “art movie” Florence and the Uffizi Gallery at the cinema. It featured the actor Simon Merrells as Lorenzo “Il Magnifico” de’ Medici and discussed the highlights of Florentine Renaissance art. The movie dedicated quite a few minutes to the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, the…