The 2025 Morgan Europe Trip

March 18, 2025 Siena, Italy

Our last Tuscan town was Siena, and like other Tuscan hill towns, was first settled in the time of the Etruscans (c. 900–400 BC) when it was inhabited by a tribe called the Saina.

The first known document of the Sienese community dates back to 70 AD: the Roman Senator Manlio Patruito reported to Rome that he had been ridiculed with a fake funeral during his official visit to Saena Iulia, a small military colony in Tuscia. The Roman Senate decided to punish the main culprits and to severely call the Sienese to greater respect for Roman authority. (It sounds like the people of Siena had a great sense of humor!)

We went to Siena especially to visit St. Catherine of Siena's hometown. Catherine of Siena was a Dominican tertiary (layperson), philosopher and theologian. Born in the 14th century, she began having visions of Christ at the age of five or six. At seven, she had decided to devote her life to God. She resisted marriage as a young woman until she was eventually allowed to join the Dominican Order. She was known for helping the sick and poor and launching reform campaigns among the faithful.

The brilliant people of Siena have installed escalators leading up and going down from town. They were wonderful to ride!

Going up the escalator.

Siena

Our first stop was the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta who's exterior is beautifully done in white and black stone. The Cathedral was begun in 1229.

Every inch of the inside, including the floors, is covered with incredible artwork. It would take years to see everything in depth.

Standing at the back of church looking toward the altar.

One of many scenes in the floor.

Color everywhere!

Huge choir hymnals that would be shared by many singers.

There was a cleaning crew at work.

Towards the front of the church.

A side chapel.

Our next big stop was the Piazza del Campo, the famous seashell shaped town square. It was very large but lacked personality or places to sit and people watch.

Rod, Grace, Paul, and Clare purchased tickets to climb the tower. It's the 3rd tallest Medieval tower in the country, and not a good place for anyone who's claustrophobic. I sat in the square until they came down.

The tower Torre del Mangia.

Our climbers.

Views from the tower courtesy Rod.

More views.

The bottom of the tower looking up.

Pizza for lunch

After lunch, we headed over to the Basilica Cateriniana di San Domenico to see St. Catherine's church. It was completely different than the Cathedral of Santa Maria. It was unadorned and looked like they had put some contemporary stain glass in some of the windows. Some places on the walls looked like there might be more on the walls underneath the top coat of stucco.