Siena 2018: On Top Of The Cathedral

As part of your entry into the Siena Cathedral Museum you can step out onto the unfinished new front facade of the church, called the “Facciatone” in Italian. This would have been the cathedral’s new front entrance (if the Black Death hadn’t halted construction) and if you want you can climb up some stairs to the top for a panoramic view of Siena. Somehow, someway, we managed to catch a gap in the rain when we were out there, and while it was still cold, gray, and windy we could see most of the city from up on top of the facade. We could also hear chanting coming from Siena’s football stadium, so we knew there was a game that evening. During peak tourism season the line to go up onto the Facciatone can get long but if you’re visiting the museum anyway and can spare the time this is a very worthwhile experience.