Travel Reference
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Canterbury to Rome. Located opposite the duomo, its highlight is the Pellegrinaio (Pil-
grim's Hall), with vivid 15th-century frescoes by Lorenzo Vecchietta, Priamo della Quer-
cia and Domenico di Bartolo lauding the good works of the hospital and its patrons.
The building now functions as a cultural centre and houses three museums - the Ar-
chaeological Museum, Art Museum for Children and Center of Contemporary Art (SMS
Contemporanea) - as well as a variety of historic halls, chapels and temporary exhibition
spaces. Don't miss the atmospheric Archaeological Museum housed in the basement tun-
nels and the medieval fienile (hayloft) on level three, which houses Jacopo della Quercia's
original Fonte Gaia sculptures.
Pinacoteca Nazionale
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(Via San Pietro 29; adult/reduced €4/2; 10am-5.45pm Tue-Sat, 9am-12.45pm Sun & Mon) Occupying
the once grand but now sadly dishevelled 14th-century Palazzo Buonsignori, this
labyrinthine gallery displays an extraordinary collection of Gothic masterpieces from the
Sienese school. The highlights are all on the 2nd floor.
The collection demonstrates the gulf cleaved between artistic life in Siena and Florence
in the 15th century. While the Renaissance flourished 70km to the north, Siena's masters
and their patrons remained firmly rooted in the Byzantine and Gothic precepts that had
stood them in such good stead from the early 13th century. Religious images and episodes
predominate, typically pasted lavishly with gold and generally lacking any of the ad-
vances in painting (eg, perspective, emotion or movement) that artists in Florence were
exploring. That's not to say that the works here are second-rate - many are among the
most beautiful and important creations of their time.
There are too many knock-'em-dead canvasses on the 2nd floor to list here, but you
should be sure not to miss Duccio's Madonna and Child (Room 2), Madonna with Child
and Four Saints (Room 4) and Santa Maria Maddalena (Room 5); Simone Martini's
Madonna della Misericordia and Madonna with Child (both in Room 4); Madonna and
Child and Blessed Agostino altarpiece (both in Room 6); Lippo Memmi's Adoration of the
Magi (Room 6); Ambrogio Lorenzetti's luminous Annunciation and Madonna with Child
(both in Room 8); Pietro Lorenzetti's Madonna Enthroned with Saint Nicholas and the
Prophet Elia and Crucifixion (both in Room 8); and Taddeo di Bartolo's The Annunci-
ation of the Virgin Mary (Room 11).
ART GALLERY
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