Siena rediscovers its "Supreme Good"
The floor of the Duomo, one of the masterpieces of Italian art, will remain visible to the public until 15 November
A journey through art, faith and wisdom. The uncovering of the marble floor of Siena Cathedral is an extraordinary event that alone is worth the trip to the Tuscan city. It is one of the largest and most precious figurative cycles ever created in the history of art. Not merely a decorative element, but rather a great polychrome book, the floor of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta owes this extraordinary uncovering to the Year of Saint Francis.
The Archdiocese of Siena – Colle Val d'Elsa – Montalcino and the Opera della Metropolitana of Siena decided to celebrate it by taking up the words of the prayer that the saint of Assisi composed after receiving the stigmata, which also perfectly represent the iconography of the path towards divine knowledge: "You are good, all good, the supreme good, Lord God living and true. You are wisdom".
Created over the course of six centuries using the techniques of marble inlay and graffito, the floor of Siena Cathedral is the collective work of more than 40 Italian Renaissance artists and is universally recognised as an unrivalled excellence.
Raising one's gaze from the ground, the Cathedral also offers visitors masterpieces by Donatello, Michelangelo, Bernini, Nicola and Giovanni Pisano.
