Siena Cathedral Complex Pass with Piccolomini Library

Siena Cathedral and its marble floor

Siena Cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption, was built mainly between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries on the highest point of the city. Its walls and columns are banded in white and dark green marble, the colours of Siena's coat of arms, and its Gothic façade is crowded with carved figures, while the dome and bell tower rise above the rooftops.

The greatest treasure is the floor: dozens of large panels of inlaid and engraved marble, created between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, cover the entire church with scenes and symbols. To protect them, many panels stay covered for most of the year and are fully revealed only for some weeks, usually in summer and early autumn. Inside you also see the carved octagonal pulpit and chapels rich in sculpture. Is Siena Cathedral worth visiting? It is one of the most beautiful churches in Italy.

The Piccolomini Library

Opening off the left aisle of the cathedral, the Piccolomini Library is a single hall that seems to glow with colour. It was built at the end of the fifteenth century by a cardinal of the Piccolomini family to honour his uncle, a Sienese scholar who became pope, and to keep his collection of books.

The walls are covered with frescoes painted in the early sixteenth century, telling the story of that pope's life in vivid scenes framed by painted arches, with landscapes, ships and crowded courts. Above, the vaulted ceiling is painted in bright patterns, and display cases hold huge illuminated choir books. At the centre stands an ancient Roman marble statue of the Three Graces. Plan about twenty minutes here and look up as much as you look around.

The Crypt and the Baptistery

Beneath the cathedral lies the Crypt, a space filled in during the fourteenth century and rediscovered by chance in 1999. Its walls preserve a cycle of late thirteenth-century paintings with intense colours, protected from light for about seven centuries, which makes it one of the most surprising rooms in Siena.

The Baptistery sits below the apse of the cathedral and is entered from a small square down the steps on the side of the building. Its walls and vaults are painted with frescoes, and in the centre stands the hexagonal baptismal font, decorated in the fifteenth century with gilded bronze panels and statuettes by some of the finest Tuscan sculptors of the age. Allow about thirty minutes for both.

The Cathedral Museum and the Facciatone viewpoint

In the fourteenth century Siena planned a vast new cathedral that would have turned the present church into a mere transept. Work began in 1339 but stopped after the plague of 1348, leaving the outline of the nave and a tall, empty façade. The Cathedral Museum, Museo dell'Opera, now fills part of this unfinished building and keeps the original statues from the façade, stained glass and a great altarpiece of the Virgin painted in the early fourteenth century.

From inside the museum, narrow spiral stairs climb to the top of the unfinished wall, the Facciatone. The reward is one of the best panoramas in Siena: Piazza del Campo, the Torre del Mangia, the rooftops and the green Tuscan hills all around. Only a few people go up at a time, so a short wait is normal at busy hours.

The Oratory and Diocesan Museum, and planning your visit

The pass also includes the Oratory and the Diocesan Museum of sacred art, a short walk across the old town near Piazza San Francesco. Its upper chapel is decorated with frescoes, and its rooms show Sienese paintings from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century, a quiet visit away from the crowds of the cathedral square.

Siena Cathedral opening hours vary with the season, generally from mid-morning to early evening with shorter hours in winter, and last entry to the cathedral is thirty minutes before closing. On Sundays and religious holidays the cathedral opens to visitors only after the morning services. How to get to Siena Cathedral: from Piazza del Campo it is a five-minute climb, and from the railway station buses and escalators lead up to the centre.