Siena

Siena, about thirty-five miles south of Florence, is a beautiful city of nearly 60,000. With its medieval appearance still largely intact--a surviving circle of walls and gates, narrow winding streets with buildings connected by overhead arches, and functional thirteenth-century fountains--Siena preserves a wealth of material culture pertinent to our study. Two of its most prominent medieval monuments, which still serve the functions for which they were built, are the stunning striped-marble Cathedral (the “Duomo”) and the magnificent pink brick Town Hall (“Palazzo Pubblico”). The cathedral complex, whose architecture and associated art date primarily from the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, includes an important pulpit with sculpted narrative scenes, monumental facade sculptures, and the Maestà altarpiece (now in the Cathedral's museum), perhaps the most important European panel painting of its period, by the great Sienese painter Duccio. The Palazzo Pubblico was begun in the last decade of the thirteenth century, and with its attached tower, continues to dominate the city's skyline, along with the cathedral's bell tower. The frescoed interior walls of the Palazzo Pubblico include many paintings executed during the first half of the fourteenth century, and those by the Sienese painters Simone Martini and Ambrogio Lorenzetti are among the most important wall paintings in Western art.

This building is located on the central piazza, known as the "Campo" (mentioned by that name in the Commedia), one of the most beautiful urban spaces in the world. The elaborate system of neighborhoods, called contrade, continues to shape the city's social structure as it did in the Middle Ages. Twice each summer, the contrade compete in the “Palio,” a no-holds-barred bareback horse race around the Campo; our seminar will be in the city during the preparation for and running of the July 2 Palio and during preparation for the second one, run on August 16. Unlike other medieval festivals in Italy that have been revived (or sometimes invented!) for the sake of tourism, the Palio is central to Sienese civic life. By the time the seminar is over, participants, who may be humming contrada songs in their sleep, will understand the factionalism of Dante's Italy in a way that no conventional study could convey.

 Living in Siena

There are advantages to being in a relatively small hill-town like Siena. It is a city with almost no violent crime, with a city center off-limits to most automobile traffic, and with (relatively) cool nights, more comfortable than other more low-lying areas of Tuscany in the summer months. It is also a city whose architectural beauty presents daily surprises and pleasures. However, there are some undeniable challenges involved in living in an Italian hill town. If you are expecting American-style accommodations (like air conditioning), this is probably not the seminar for you. If you are sensitive to noise, possible at any hour of the day or night during Palio madness, this is probably not the seminar for you. If you are not ready or able to do a great deal of walking in a very hilly town with cobblestone streets, this is probably not the seminar for you. Participants will need, above all, to have the patience, the flexibility, and the good humor to adapt to living conditions that will be less modern, less convenient, and less private than they are used to and to the different attitudes and customs of a foreign country for six weeks. If you do not take well to surprises, this is probably not the seminar for you.