Now Siena hosts a very prestigious guest only for a few months, a valid reason to book a stay and visit the town during the next sunny days.
We refer to a painting which is temporarily in Siena, San Giovanni Battista by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, came from the Capitoline Portait Gallery in Rome and displayed from today to 18th August at the Crypt under the Cathedral of Siena, a chance to closely admire a great masterpieces of Italian art.
Besides the standard openings (from 10:30 am to 7:00 pm), every friday there will be a special event related to Caravaggio, an art aperitif from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm which will entertain tourists with oddities and other information about the paintings of this great artist. You can discover more about Caravaggio while your’re drinking a nice Senese wine, isn’t a very engaging art lesson?
This painting is a synthesis of the author meditations on sacred art; he used as model one of the Nudes frescoed by Michelangelo in the vault of Sistine Chapel, furthermore there is a relationship between Caravaggio and the city of Palio, maybe a less known link.
Giulio Mancini, the papal archiater, was an art lover and patron that collected many works of Caravaggio just in Siena, his home city. So the local painters discovered those wonderful paintings and were influenced by the style of Caravaggio. The exhibition at Opera del Duomo explains this relationship through multimedia supports and comparisons with others works.
Another initiative is a result of a long renovation and concerns the “sky” of the Cathedral, the Gate of Heaven, which is open to the public for the first time.
The winding staircases inside the towers of Duomo lead up to the “new” treasures which before were invisible to visitors, as the polychrome stained glass windows depicting the Apostles by Ulisse De Matteis, the copy of the stained glass window by Duccio di Buoninsegna and above all the amazing panorama of Siena that now you can see from here, an unusual perspective to admire the landscape. Reservation is required and you have to follow some guidelines to visit the Attic, visit the official website to know more: www.operaduomo.siena.it
Art in Siena has many shapes, so choose your favorite route, now also Caravaggio is waiting to travellers who love history and prestigious traditions.
