Page 349 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italy

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VISITORS’ CHECKLIST E Museo dell’Opera
del Duomo
Practical Information Piazza del Duomo 8. Tel 0577 28 63 00.
Piazza del Duomo. Tel 0577 28 Open 10:30am–7pm daily (Nov–Feb:
63 00. Duomo & Library: to 5:30pm). &
Open Mar–Nov: 10:30am–7pm Part of this museum is devoted
(Duomo: 1:30–6pm Sun); Nov– to items removed from the
Feb: 10:30am– 5:30pm (Duomo: Duomo, including a tondo of
1:30–5:30pm Sun). & a Madonna and Child, probably
∑ operaduomo.siena.it
by Donatello, as well as several
Transport badly eroded Gothic statues by
@ Pollicino. Giovanni Pisano and Jacopo
Inlaid Marble Floor della Quercia. The highlight is
The Massacre of the
Innocents is one of a series Duccio’s huge Maestà (1308–11),
one of the Sienese School’s finest
of scenes in the inlaid
marble floor. The marble works. It depicts the Madonna
is usually uncovered in and Child on one side, and
September and October. scenes from the Life of Christ on
the other. It was originally placed
on the Duomo’s high altar, where
it replaced the striking Madonna
of the Large Eyes (1220–30) by an
anonymous Sienese painter, also
in the museum.

Statues from the Duomo now on show
in the Museo dell’Opera
P Fortezza Medicea
Piazza Libertà 1. Open daily.
Enoteca: Tel 0577 22 88 43.
Open noon–1am Mon–Sat. &
This huge red-brick fortress was
built for Cosimo I by Baldassarre
Lanci in 1560, following Siena’s
defeat by the Florentines in
the 1554–5 war. After an
18-month siege, during which
more than 8,000 Sienese died,
the town’s banking and wool
industries were suppressed by
the Florentine masters and all
major building work ended.
The fortress now houses the
Entrance to Façade Statues Enoteca Italiana, offering visitors
Duomo Many façade statues have been the chance both to taste and to
replaced by copies; the originals buy quality wines from all over
are in the Museo dell’Opera Italy. There is also a restaurant
del Duomo. on the site.

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