Siena Window, oil on linen, 9x12, $500, Gallery East
We arrived in Sienna, a charming picturesque medieval town. The main street is lined with shops of jewelry, linens, leather, glassware along with bakeries, pastries, gelatos, wine, olive and olive oil vendors. A local specialty is a dense cake, Panforte di Siena, made with candied fruit, nuts, cinnamon, and cloves. The most exciting annual events occur on July 2 and August 16. The Palio is a horserace around the Campo, a cobblestone paved central city court shaped like a scallop seashell. Each of the 17 districts sponsors a horse who must be blessed by a priest in the main chapel or church of that district. The horse must win by any means, with or without its hired jockey, foreigners and mercenaries looked down upon by locals. Crammed into the piazza and surrounding shops and caffes are 50,000 spectators.
The Piazzo del Campo is seashell shaped, slanting downward toward Palazzo Publico. Buildings around the Piazzo are convex on one side and concave on the other. The Duomo or cathedral is built of striking black and white striped marble with lavish pink and white marble façade and an ornate interior. Side streets offer charming arches, steeply pitched bricked and cobble stone streets, siena and ocher colored buildings with green or siena shutters as shown in my painting above. Definitely an artist’s paradise!
