Siena - Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta

The campanile originally stood outside the cathedral, in the angle between the nave and the right transept, but with the enlargement of the cathedral it is now within the main structure. On the wall above the doorway leading from the last bay of the right-hand aisle into the base of the campanile is the Monument of Bishop Tommaso Piccolómini del Testa by Neroccio (1484).

In the right transept is the entrance to the Cappella Chigi (Chigi Chapel) or Cappella della Madonna del Voto (Chapel of the Madonna of the Vow), which was built in 1659-62 to the design of the great Baroque architect Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini. Of the four statues in the chapel two ("St Jerome" and "The Magdalene") are by Bernini; the other two ("San Bernardino" and "St Catherine of Siena") are by his pupils.

In the left-hand transept is the Cappella San Giovanni Battista (Chapel of St John the Baptist), with a beautiful doorway by Lorenzo di Mariano (1476-1534). In the chapel are a bronze statue of John the Baptist by Donatello (1457) and a statue of St Catherine of Alexandria by Neroccio (1487). The frescoes (scenes from the life of the Baptist and two portraits) are by Pinturicchio.

The Cathedral Museum is housed in three bays of the nave of the new cathedral. Practically all the items on show come from the cathedral. Among the museum's many treasures are reliefs by Nicola Pisano, works by Giovanni Pisano or from his workshop, a magnificent relief of the Virign and Child with St Antony and Cardinal Casini by Iácopo della Quercia, sculpture by Giovanni Pisano from the facade of the cathedral and a number of panel-paintings, including Duccio di Buoninsegna's famous "Maestà", Pietro Lorenzetti's "Birth of the Virgin" and the 13th century "Madonna dagli Occhi Grossi" (Madonna with the Large Eyes). In the Treasury are reliquaries (notably the silver-gilt reliquary for the head of San Galgano and the gilt-bronze Reliquary of St Clement), sculpture in wood, etc.

Maesta should be seperate.

The crypt is reached by going round the outside of the right transept and through the doorway in the first bay of the unfinished new cathedral. The entrance to the crypt is on the first landing of the staircase. In the first room are the originals of statues on the cathedral, now replaced by copies, and in the second are remains of late 13th century frescoes of New Testament scenes.

With its regular alternation of courses of black and white marble, the interior of the cathedral (89.40m/293ft long) has a rather overpowering effect, though this is relieved by the painting of the ceiling with gold stars on a blue ground. The nave is separated from the aisles by piers bearing tall round-headed arches. Above these runs a cornice with busts of Christ and 171 Popes (down to Lucius III), and in the spandrels of the arches are busts of 36 Roman Emperors (terracotta, 15th-16th centuries). At the point where the nave reaches the crossing can be seen part of the dwarf gallery which encircles the drum of the dome. The inner wall of the façade has reliefs depicting the life of the Virgin (1483) and the legend of Sant'Ansano (c. 1480); the stained glass (1549) in the rose-window depicts the Last Supper. There is also a stained-glass window in the choir.

The presbytery is dominated by the large marble altar by Baldassare Peruzzi (1532), over which is a bronze ciborium by Vecchietta (1467-72), flanked by angels carrying candles. The apse has frescoes by various 16th and 17th century artists; on some of them 19th century restoration is very evident. The carved choir-stalls, in Late Gothic style, date from 1363 to 1397; of the original 90 stalls only 36 remain. Behind the stalls are richly decorative intarsia panels by Fra Giovanni da Verona (1503).

A door on the left-hand side of the presbytery leads into the sacristy. In three chapels at the far end are remains of 15th century frescoes. High up in the wall of the choir is a circular window with what is believed to be the oldest stained glass in Italy, depicting the Burial, Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin, with the Four Evangelists and Siena's four Patron Saints. The window, originally made in 1288, was moved to its present position in 1365.