Detail
Detail of a lovely window grill.

Volta pinta
Volta pinta (1556) - Loggia under Palazzo del Comune in Assisi. The frescoes are inspired by Nero's Domus Aurea in Rome. Painted probably by Raffaello Coda da Rimini.

Volta pinta
Volta pinta (1556) - Loggia under Palazzo del Comune in Assisi. The frescoes are inspired by Nero's Domus Aurea in Rome. Painted probably by Raffaello Coda da Rimini.

Volta pinta
Volta pinta (1556) - Loggia under Palazzo del Comune in Assisi. The frescoes are inspired by Nero's Domus Aurea in Rome. Painted probably by Raffaello Coda da Rimini. Honestly, I don't know how to feel about this image...

Volta pinta (1556) - Loggia under Palazzo del Comune in Assisi
The frescoes are inspired by Nero's Domus Aurea in Rome. Painted probably by Raffaello Coda da Rimini. Inspired by Nero probably explains it.

Volta pinta (1556) - Loggia under Palazzo del Comune in Assisi
Volta pinta (1556) - Loggia under Palazzo del Comune in Assisi. The frescoes are inspired by Nero's Domus Aurea in Rome. Painted probably by Raffaello Coda da Rimini. Yes, Nero.

Fontana Maggiore
Fontana Maggiore (1275-1278), Perugia. Romulus and Remus and their wolf-mother.

Fontana Maggiore
Fontana Maggiore (1275-1278), Perugia. Harvest in the month of June.

Fontana Maggiore
Fontana Maggiore (1275-1278), Perugia. A man with thorn in the month of March.

Fontana Maggiore
Fontana Maggiore (1275-1278), Perugia. September.

Fontana Maggiore
Fontana Maggiore (1275-1278), Perugia. The fountain decorated by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano. Palazzo dei Priori (1293-1443) in the background.

Palazzo dei Priori, Perugia
Portale delle Arti (1346), Palazzo dei Priori, Perugia. The doorway of the palace represents vices: killing a child and a dog biting its owner.

Ideal City
Ideal City (1470s) probably by Luciano Laurana. Palazzo Ducale, Urbino.

Volta pinta
The artist was inspired by Nero's Domus Aurea in Rome.

Volta pinta
This loggia in Piazza del Comune was painted in 1556, probably by Raffaello Coda da Rimini.

Chiesa di Sant'Andrea
Frescoes on one of the columns.

San Salvatore
OK, now, this may be my favourite church in Spoleto. Built in the 4th and 5th century, and renovated by the Lombards in the 8th century.

Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta
The mosaic portraying Christ giving a Benediction, signed by Solsternus (1207). Let that sink in. 1207.

Piazza Pianciani

Siena Cathedral
View of the Cathedral from Via Bruno Bonci.

Siena Cathedral

Piazza Salimbeni
The statue of Sallustio Bandini (1677-1760) by Tito Sarrocchi (1880). Bandini was an archdeacon, economist, and politician.

Loggia della mercanzia
Frescoes by Pastorino dei Pastorini (1549-1552).

Siena Cathedral
She-wolf of Siena, surrounded with emblems of confederate cities, dating from 1373.

Siena Cathedral
Detail of Pinturicchio's Mount of Wisdom (1505): Fortuna, holding a horn of plenty and a wind-swollen sail. She, standing on a sphere and a boat with a broken mast, brought the wise men to the island.

Siena Cathedral
The dome is topped with Bernini's gilded lantern.

Siena Cathedral

Siena Cathedral
Pulpit by Nicola Pisano (1268). The panels narrate the Life of Christ and the central column shows Seven Liberal Arts: Grammar, Dialectica, Rhetoric, Philosophy, Arithmetic, Music, and Astronomy.

Siena Cathedral
Detail of Liberation of Bethulia, made in 1473 possibly by Urbano da Cortona. This is the story about Judith and Holofernes.

Siena Cathedral
One of the scenes on pulpit: Massacre of the Innocents

Siena Cathedral
A wonderful ceiling, but these heads are a bit creepy.

Siena Cathedral
The Hellespontine Sibyl (detail) by Neroccio di Bartolomeo. She was known for her prediction of Crucifixion. The wolf and the lion represent Siena and Florence.

Siena Cathedral
A detail of something. I cannot possibly remember where I took this picture.

Siena Cathedral
Detail of Pinturicchio's Mount of Wisdom (1505): Crates of Thebes who is throwing jewels into the sea.

Siena Cathedral
The divine interior of the Cathedral.

Siena Cathedral
The frescoes tell the story of cardinal Enea Silvio Piccolomini (Pope Pius II). These two are: Pius II canonizes Saint Catherine of Siena in 1461 and Pius II arrives in Ancona to launch the crusade.

Siena Cathedral
Floors in the Piccolomini Library.

Siena Cathedral
More interesting details on the ceiling of the Piccolomini Library.

Siena Cathedral
Piccolomini coat of arms: a blue cross with five crescent.

Siena Cathedral
Ceiling of the Piccolomini Library, painted by Pinturicchio (1503).

Siena Cathedral
Some details on the ceiling of Piccolomini Library.

Siena Cathedral
A lion on the exterior of the cathedral. I am a bit intrigued by his eyes...

Loggia della mercanzia
Frescoes by Lorenzo Rustici (1553-1563).

Loggia della mercanzia

Fonte Gaia
The first fountain was built in 1342, this one was made in 1419 by Jacopo della Quercia.

Fonte Gaia
The original statues are kept in a museum, these are some (old) copies.

Santa Maria Assunta
A wonderful ceiling!

Palazzo Comunale
The entrance to the Palazzo Comunale.

Diocesan Museum of Pienza - Palazzo Borgia
Crucifix from the end of the 12th century.

Basilica of Santa Maria Novella
One of the many sails on the facade, which was added to the church in 1456–1470.

Giovanni delle Bande Nere
Giovanni delle Bande Nere (1498–1526) was the father of Cosimo I de Medici. The statue is by Baccio Bandinelli (1560).

Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore
The cathedral was built between 1296 and 1436, but the facade was added 1887. I feel like I have been lied to.

Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore

Giotto's Campanile
Giotto stared building this tower in 1334. He combined white marble from Carrara, green marble from Prato, and red marble from Siena. The tower was completed in 1359.

Giotto's Campanile
Daedalus by Andrea Pisano. Here I can actually understand why the marble is called 'green'.

DSC 9615

Fountain of Neptune
Designed by Baccio Bandinelli and created by Bartolomeo Ammannati between 1560 and 1574.

Palazzo Vecchio
A lion in the Palazzo Vecchio. No, this time we didn't enter it, just walked around the palace a bit.

Palazzo Vecchio
Officially, such decorations are called grotesque.

Palazzo Vecchio
Grotesque or not, I like them a lot.

David, of course
A copy of Michelangelo's David. The original (1504) was moved to Galleria dell'Accademia in 1873.

Hercules and Cacus
Hercules and Cacus by Baccio Bandinelli (1525-1534).

Medusa
Medusa's head from the statue Perseus with the Head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini (1545-1554) located in the Loggia dei Lanzi.

Rape/kidnapping of the Sabine Women
English wikipedia: Rape, also known as kidnapping. Slovenian wikipedia: Kidnapping, also known as rape. Oh well. By Giambologna (1583).

Detail
Street lamps in Florence have very interesting bases ;-) Oh, and they are of course three-legged.

Palazzo Vecchio
This court is full of Austrian towns, painted in 1565 by Giorgio Vasari for the wedding celebration of Francesco I de' Medici to Archduchess Johanna of Austria. This is obviously Vienna, with Stephansdom.

Palazzo Vecchio
Another one of the many Austrian towns: Graz.

Fountain of Neptune
Designed by Baccio Bandinelli and created by Bartolomeo Ammannati between 1560 and 1574.