is emphasised if the sun happens to be very brilliant. By degrees,
however, the wonderful ultramarine used in the decoration of the groined
roof asserts itself, and what at first seemed utter blackness unfolds
imperceptibly into an extraordinary scheme of colour. The costly blue
was presented by Hecuba, Queen of Cyprus, whose tomb is in the church.
The great porphyry vase in which it was brought thither is there too.
Chapels raised six steps above the floor of the nave take the place of
aisles; and their windows, filled with stained glass, do not help to
mitigate the darkness. The High Altar stands at the inter-section of the
nave and transepts. Immediately beneath is the rock containing the
saint's remains. The altar itself is a huge slab of stone brought from
Constantinople. It rests on twenty slender columns that form a sort of
arcade with trefoils and mosaic spandrils. The tour compartments of the
vault above are adorned with some of the finest of Giotto's work. They
are known as the Poverty series, and Chastity, Obedience, and S. Francis
in Glory.
A fine vestibule at the west end of the nave fronts the Piazza
Superiore, and carries the façade of the upper church. This is smaller
than the lower church by the width of the side chapels, and consists of
a nave, short transepts, and apse. The nave is decorated by a once noble
series of frescoes by Giotto of the life of S. Francis. They are much
damaged by injudicious restoration, and comparing them with other works
by the same master-hand, it is open to question whether much of the
colour from his brush is now on the walls. Above them is the almost
ruined work of Cimabue. Alas! that such masterpieces should have been
so neglected.
On the way to the upper town one passes through the old Roman Forum, now
the Piazza Grande. In the square stands the Palazzo del Capitano, to
which a fine tower is attached. Further on, as one climbs the ascent,
the street opens out into the Piazza Rufino, at the end of which the
cathedral is situated. Dedicated to the first bishop of Assisi, who
suffered martyrdom in the year 286, the building was commenced in 1140.
The fine façade has three portals, elaborately carved in low relief, and
three very good round windows. Grotesque figures of birds and beasts are
set on brackets near the centre window, and occupy other places on the
façade. The interior was restored and altered at the end of the
sixteenth century, and is in no way remarkable. It contains, however,
the font in which S. Francis was baptized, and two good statues of white
marble, one of S. Francis, the other of S. Chiara.
[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL, ASSISI]
Assisi is distinctly a sun-baked city; and built of local warm-coloured
stone, it looks almost on fire when the rays of the setting sun light up
its walls, its roofs, and its towers. Thus does the illustration depict
the cathedral's façade and Romanesque _campanile_. In the piazza stands,
on a pedestal, the bronze statue of the saint which replaced that
which is inside the building. The street under the houses on the
left leads to the Roman theatre, and on the right one proceeds to the
church of S. Chiara. The mummified body of S. Clare still rests in the
crypt; and the Crucifix which spoke to Giovanni Bernardone in the church
of S. Damiano is in the north transept. To this crucifix was due the
change which transfigured the life of the young man, and gave to the
world one of its greatest saints. Giovanni was nicknamed Francesco by
his father, who had an extensive trade connection with France, and a
name given in jest has become one of the most remarkable in the history
of the Church. The country round Assisi is full of beautiful subjects
for pen and pencil; and long meditative rambles are within reach of the
poorest pedestrian. The spirit of S. Francis dominates all. It is not
far to the _carceri_, the little dug-out rock chambers that he at first
inhabited with his few followers; and the gorge through which one climbs
to reach them is that where he was one night attacked by robbers, who
finding their victim clad only in a hair shirt, beat him and left him
for dead in a drift of snow. The life of S. Francis has ever been an all
absorbing one for the painter's art. One of the favourite subjects
connected with it is his marriage with the Lady Poverty. The vows he
took of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience were demanded from all his
followers. His rule once established, his disciples were known as the
Frati Minori. When preaching to the poor he often exposed to view a
representation of the birth of Christ which he carried about, and it was
over this _presépio_, or manger, that the first Christmas carols were
sung.
SIENA
Siena, the Ghibelline, at one time always at war with Florence the
Guelph, no longer disputes with her ancient rival the glory of being the
foremost of Tuscan cities. But, though she no longer does this, pride in
her Roman origin has never ceased. She still retains the S. P. Q. S. as
the head-line of municipal notices; and the she-wolf and twins are to be
found sculptured on many a column that adorns some of her little
courtyards as well as on odd corners about her walls. Nine gates, one of
which boasts a barbican, admit the stranger to her dark up-and-down-hill
streets. She possesses many fine palaces. She might have possessed the
grandest Gothic cathedral in all Italy had funds permitted its
completion. As it is, it is one of the most remarkable and is adjoined
by one of the most beautiful _campanile_ in the country. If the visitor
braves the heat of August, she can show him the very best survival of
mediæval times in her celebrated _Palio_, or horse-race, that takes
place every year in the great piazza. In her streets you will hear the
purest Italian spoken. Her women, as the month of May comes round, don
the most becoming of straw hats, and her people are justly famed for
their courtesy. Fortunately for some of us, the tourist hurries on to
Florence or Rome. But for him who loves the repose and personal charm of
an old-world city, Siena will always open her arms and gather him in an
embrace that will hold him for ever enchanted by the fascination of a
delightful memory.
Almost in the centre of the city and occupying a space on the top of the
highest hill, Siena's cathedral is to-day a fragment only of what its
builders hoped to erect. The west end of the original nave is away at
the end of the piazza to the south of the present south transept. The
present nave was built as one of the transepts, and when its size is
realised the grand scheme that was never completed can be judged. The
building was begun in 1229 and the dome over the crossing finished
thirty years later. About sixty years after this the scheme to construct
the huge nave was commenced. It was only owing to a terrible plague
which carried off, it is said, eighty thousand people, that this was
abandoned. The tracery of a very beautiful Gothic window remains at the
unfinished west end, to make one marvel at the splendid proportions of
the intended fabric.
[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL, SIENA]
The cathedral, of which a fine view is obtained from the church of S.
Domenico on the opposite hill, is approached from the Piazza del Duomo
by twelve marble steps. The topmost which forms the platform in front of
the façade is inlaid with _graffiti_ designs in black and other colours.
Three crocketed gables crown Giovanni Pisano's façade. Their surface is
covered with modern mosaics. Under the centre gable, surrounded by a
square frame of Gothic niches filled with half-length figures of saints,
is an immense round window devoid of all tracery, but filled with good
glass. A flat black band of marble frames the niches. Elegant turrets
with crocketed pinnacles surmounted by saints are on either side of this
gable. The two other gables are flanked by towers, each with a solid
turret. The purest piece of architecture is the gallery which is between
the centre and these two side gables. Below runs a classic frieze
separating the upper from the lower part of the façade. The columns and
pilasters of the three portals are of white and red marble; they are so
heavily laden with elaborate sculpture of beasts, birds, and foliage
that they seem to lose their _raison d'être_ and no longer support
anything. The capitals of all these are formed of elongated acanthus
leaves, and might be likened to a field of waving maize. It is very
interesting to note, by the classic work which Pisano introduced
everywhere on the façade, how difficult it apparently was for him to get
away from the tradition of his country's classic architecture when
designing a Gothic façade.
The whole front is covered with white marble statues perched on every
available place. Gargoyles, like _chevaux de frise_, protrude from every
angle and corner. On the brackets over the four main columns of the
porches are two horses, a winged lion, and a lion _regardant_. The whole
of the front lacks repose, a condition which is intensified by the black
and white inlay of the flat surfaces. The centre gable overlaps the
portal beneath, and the apexes of the two side gables are beyond the
middle of the two side portals. This is a good arrangement, and assists
the balance of the composition, which is well restrained by the deep-set
gallery and dark shade of the flanking towers.
The pointed windows of the south aisle and transept are canopied. On top
of each of the buttresses between them is a white marble figure. The
magnificent _campanile_ rises above the chapel close to the south door.
Like the rest of the cathedral it is banded in black and white marble.
The lowest of its seven courses is constructed with a solid exterior,
the next is pierced by an arch, the third by two arches, and so on,
increasing until at the top stage there are six arches. Four turrets
with slender spires finish off the corners at the top, and a good
hexagonal spire rises from the centre. The dome is supported by an open
gallery. The idea of a central tower never seems to have appealed to the
Italian in his Gothic work; even at Milan the spire of the cathedral can
hardly be said to rise from a tower.
The interior of the cathedral, by reason of the very decided black and
white bands of marble, although mellowed with age, is not restful to the
eye. The nave consists of five bays on each side. The aisles have round
arches. The transepts are double and of unequal length. All the windows
are pointed with the exception of the two round ones at the east and
west ends. The clustered columns of the nave are of very good
proportion; above them is a heavy frieze. Between the numerous consoles
of this is a series of terra cotta busts of all the Popes. Executed at
one time, they are, like the medallion portraits of the Pontiffs in S.
Paolo fuori at Rome, not authentic likenesses. What gilding there is, is
away up in the roof and on the bosses in the soffits of the arches, but
it is old and not really obtrusive. The same may be said for the
star-spangled blue vault. The illustration shows the cold light from the
north transept window striking Niccolò Pisano's beautiful pulpit, in
contradistinction to the warm rays that penetrate this noble fabric
through the clerestory windows of the nave. Arnolfo di Cambio and
Niccolò's son Giovanni had a share in the execution of this splendid
work, which may be ranked next to the pulpit in the Baptistery at Pisa.
The pavement of the whole cathedral is composed of _graffiti_ in
coloured marble pictures. To preserve this unique pavement the
authorities have wisely covered the nave and aisles with a wooden floor;
and except during the month of August and on great festivals, when this
covering is taken away, the only portion in the lower part of the church
exposed to view is that under the dome. This is railed off.
The six niches at the top of the clustered columns that support the
cupola are filled with colossal metal figures. On bronze brackets, fixed
to each pier of the choir, are thirteenth-century bronze figures of
angels holding lamps. One admires the good taste that has always left
these bronzes ungilded. The same praise may be accorded in the case of
the grand bronze candlesticks on the high altar, and the magnificent
tabernacle by Lorenzo di Pietro which rests on it. The only note which
really jars is the crescent of hideous gilded cherubims that partially
surround the east window. The choir stalls, which were exchanged for
those in the convent of Mont' Oliveto Maggiore, nineteen miles out of
Siena, have extremely good _intarsia_ work of architectural and
"still-life" panels.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF SIENA CATHEDRAL]
In the north aisle is the Piccolomini chapel, with a very fine
Renaissance wall of carved arabesques. In niches stand statuettes, in
the execution of which Michael Angelo had a hand. The celebrated
Libreria Piccolomini adjoins this. Its walls are decorated with the
frescoes of the life of Pius II., a scion of this noble House. In the
centre of the library stands the beautiful group of the Three Graces, a
Græco-Roman work which Raphael drew from and studied.
The baptistery, S. Giovanni Battista, is below the east end of the
cathedral on a steep hill-side. Its exceptionally good Gothic front by
Giacomo di Mino was never completed, and for this reason, as will be
seen in the illustration, the roof of the cathedral has a barn-like
termination at this end. The interior is a sort of transverse nave with
two piers supporting a groined and vaulted roof. The frescoes of the
apse, though much faded, still retain some of the rich colouring with
which two Brescian painters decorated them. The font is a very beautiful
example of Giacomo della Quercia's work, and is adorned with six bronze
gilt panels, one of which is by Donatello. Small figures occupy the
corners, and are by the same master-craftsman.
Among the many great names on Siena's roll of fame, the two saints
Catherine and Bernardino are perhaps the best known. A little way beyond
the margin of the first picture of this chapter, to the left, is the
house where the former first saw light. The last of twenty-five children
born to Giacomo Beninsca and his wife, her childhood was marked by an
extraordinary ascetic devotion overwhelming all other feelings, so that
at the age of sixteen she entered the Order of S. Dominic. The series of
chapels which the Casa Beninsca is now turned into will be for some,
from their sacred associations, the most interesting spots in all the
city. The house has a charming _loggia_ and _cortile_, but otherwise no
architectural features worthy of note. On the hill above, and behind the
spot from which the sketch was made, is the church of S. Domenico, in
which S. Catherine worshipped; it is a huge building in the style of all
Dominican churches, with a great nave, no aisles, a shallow choir and
transepts. Her life was one replete with visions. In the chapel at the
west end S. Catherine took the veil. Little could she have known at the
time, that she was ordained some future day to be the prime factor in
recalling Pope Gregory XI. from Avignon to Rome.
S. Bernardino was the son of the Governor of Massa Maritima, a Sienese
town not far from the coast opposite the Isle of Elba. He joined the
preaching Order of S. Francis at the age of twenty-two, and was one of
those who always drew immense crowds to listen to his eloquent words.
When in Florence he made a bonfire of evil books and vanities, thus
forestalling one of Savonarola's great revolutionary acts. So great was
his influence considered to be that, while in Perugia, the great bell
was always tolled during his occupation of the pulpit. Care of the poor
was one of his chief aims, and he established the "Monte di Pietà," for
lending money on small pledges, to save those in want from the heavy
hand of the usurer.
Of all the palaces in Siena that which stands on the south side of the
Campo, the Palazzo Pubblico, is the most famous. Nearly every one who
reads these lines must be familiar, through photographs or otherwise,
with the magnificent _campanile_ "del Mangia"--a title that originated
with a figure, nicknamed the "Glutton," that at one time struck the
hours on its bells. The illustration gives a view of the tower seen
through the Arco di S. Guiseppe. It is three hundred and thirty-four
feet high, and is built of brick with a machicolated stone cap and
bell-turret above. At its base stands the Cappella della Piazza, a very
beautiful open _loggia_, built to commemorate the city's deliverance
from the great plague that was instrumental in causing the proposed
enlargement of the cathedral to be given up. The Palazzo itself consists
of a huge central square block with Sienese battlements--square with
hatched mouldings. A couple of turrets rise in three storeys above the
two side wings of the block. The lowest storey of the building is of
stone, the others of that delightful red brick which charms the
painter's eye, and is peculiar to Siena. All the windows of the palace
are pointed, with a flat containing-member outside the three lights of
each. Two good courtyards give entrance by stairways to the upper floors
of the building, which is now used for judicial business. Almost
opposite, across the Campo, is the Palazzo del Governo, formerly the
palace of the great Piccolomini family. It contains the treasures of
Siena, the state archives; and in front of it stands the Font Gaia.
In the Via del Capitano, leading into the Piazza del Duomo, is the
Palazzo Squarcialupi. This thirteenth-century building was, in the old
days, the official residence of the Judges of Appeal and the Captains of
War. The Loggia dei Mercanti was built in the fifteenth century for the
use of the City Fathers who assembled here in their business capacity of
merchants to judge trade disputes. So widespread was the fame of this
impartial tribunal that foreigners often brought their differences
before it for adjustment. The palace is now known as the Casino dei
Nobili. Many fine residences line the tortuous and shady thoroughfares,
and others form parts of the different squares. Most of them have iron
rings and brackets let into their walls similar to many of the
Florentine palaces and those already mentioned in the chapter on
Bologna.
[Illustration: THE ARCO DI S. GIUSEPPE, SIENA]
It is not, however, so much in the individual buildings that the charm
of Siena lies, nor in the long line of painters whose works are on the
walls of the Spedale in the Piazza del Duomo, in the Accademia delle
Belle Arti, and elsewhere. Rather is it in the personal and intimate
note of the beautiful old city taken as a whole. For even the sojourn of
a single week will captivate and make one feel as if he belonged to
Siena, and Siena to him. It may be that the wheeled traffic, which can
follow but two or three distinct lines through her streets, shuts off in
silence large areas of the city, and that the visitor is left more to
himself and his reveries than is the case in most Italian towns.
Whatever it be, it is difficult to define, but the more one knows Siena
the more whole-heartedly does one give oneself up to her charm.
Is there anything quite the same, quite so peaceful, and yet so full of
history's wars, as the view from the pleasant gardens of La Lizza? Pass
on to the walls of the Fortessa at the end of "the Lists," or old
tilting-ground, and what a beautiful landscape unfolds itself!
Undulating ground, covered with vines and orchards, carries us into a
middle distance of cypress and pine-clad hills. These stretch away into
an opalescent haze, out of which to the north and east rise the peaks of
far-distant mountains. To the west but one great mass soars above the
sea of golden mist--Mte. Amiata, always different yet always the same. A
solitary mountain, once seen ever remembered; a mountain one can love.
What a land of sunshine and pastoral beauty it is! Always at its best in
springtime before the summer's sun has laid its grip on the red earth
and scorched it sere, and when the showers of April freshen and draw
from the warm soil that scent of Mother Earth, which nothing man has
ever made can equal and which no money can buy.
[Illustration: UNDER THE WALLS, SIENA]
ORVIETO
Orvieto, yet another of the wonderful hill towns of Italy, is quite
unlike any of those with which this book has hitherto dealt. It has an
absolutely insular position, due to its situation on top of an isolated
crag of dark volcanic rock which rises out of the wide valley of the
river Paglia. The rock, which crowns the steep slopes of a hill, goes
upwards a sheer precipice on three sides. On the fourth, the old road
circles and winds in and out of olive groves and orchards, until, having
climbed the ascent, it finally enters the city in a bold curve close to
where the funicular rail from the station terminates. The principal
entrance is the Porta Maggiore at the other end of the rock. It is a
gateway hewn out of the solid _tufa_ and built across a very narrow
natural gorge. Two other gates pierce the walls. One, at the east end,
is close to the old Fortessa--now converted into a charming garden. Like
an old eagle that in his declining years cannot trust his wings for far
flight, this grim old city, built of black lava, broods over the sweep
of country below. Very few places in the country occupied so
impregnable a position.
On the northern slopes of the hill there has been unearthed in a
peasant's garden one of the most complete Etruscan _necropoli_ in Italy.
One tomb is left exactly as it was found, with the contents--vases,
jars, utensils of bronze, &c.--in their original position.
[Illustration: LA PORTA MAGGIORE, ORVIETO]
In the troublous times that so often overtook Papal Rome no fewer than
thirty-two different Pontiffs found refuge in Orvieto from incipient
revolutions. The impregnable situation of the city rendered it safe and
immune from attack. Pope Clement VII., who fled here after the sack of
Rome by the Emperor Charles V., caused the Pozzo di S. Patrizio to be
made. This extremely cleverly constructed well is hewn out of the solid
rock for a depth of one hundred-and-eighty feet, and has a double spiral
staircase outside the water shaft. The Papal Court naturally followed
the Pope, and Orvieto in the days which have gone must have worn a more
human air than it does now. One can understand that then its dark,
solemn streets resounded with a little gaiety, and its palaces had a
greater show of life than they have at the present time. True, the
owners now spend most of the year in Rome, and reside in their fortress
homes for the summer months only. But even their advent does not,
to the stranger, bring much more life into this solemn place. No
other word describes the palaces of Orvieto better than the above.
Nearly every one of these fortress palaces has a tower of defence, the
walls of which are from eight to ten feet thick. Many of them are
connected with one another by underground passages, and none have any
windows at all accessible from the outside. The lower class of
inhabitants are quiet and sad-looking. They appear even to this day to
live under some heavy mental weight. Maybe generations of suppression
and the dominance of an intriguing Court has had an influence that is
inbred into the children born now. Then, too, it was so far down hill
and up across the opposite slopes to the world beyond! So toilsome a
climb to return home! You feel this to-day when you live in
Orvieto--feel that this silent city is an island. Can you be surprised,
when you think of these adverse influences, that the poorer Orvietans
have not quite the gay and friendly air of the peasantry of the plains?
But whatever the people may be, they live in a wonderful old city, and
they live under the shadow of a grand Gothic cathedral.