Is that a head in a box?

Ah, the joys of an afternoon with no class, no plans, and a city to explore!

Istrice's Mascot, the porcupine!  These adorn much of the metal work in the contrada.

I spent my time journeying off the beaten path-- the one I walk every day to and from class near the Piazza del Campo.  I walked to the Duomo, to end of the Istrice Contrada territory, and then down to San Domineco.  The city was mostly quiet and the tourists must've been hiding in their hotel rooms!

A sign in Istrice; I love how her gown fades into the stone.

After purchasing a few gifts for people back home (yep, that's some of you reading this blog!), I decided to walk to the Basilica Cateriniana di San Domenico. It was the perfect time of day to visit, as the church was nearly empty-- so quiet, in fact, that when someone dropped a coin, it sounded like a gunshot. 

San Domenico is the place where Catherine of Siena's head resides. Catherine was a philosopher in addition to being a theologian. She had her first vision of Christ when she was a small child, around 5 or 6 years old, and she continued to have visions through her adulthood. She took a vow of poverty and often gave away the family's goods (which caused some problems, as you can imagine), and she was also ill quite often, possibly because she starved herself on a regular basis.  She is usually depicted being "married" to Christ.

The interesting part of the story is actually the legend that surrounds her death and burial.  Supposedly, the people of Siena knew that they would be unable to transport her entire body back home from Rome where she died. Instead, they removed her head from her body, and on the way back to Siena were stopped by soldiers.  Knowing certain death would be their punishment, the Sienese prayed to Catherine to help them, and when the soldiers opened the bag with Catherine's head, it held only rose petals.  Once in Siena, the head was there in the bag again.  

Now, Catherine's head is entombed in the church.  Creepily, you can see it very clearly.

There are many paintings of Catherine throughout the church.  This one is beside her tomb and shows her receiving the stigmata.

There is also a fabulous Maesta by Guido of Siena.

John the Baptist and Christ are both carved from wood.

As I sat in the solitude of the church, it dawned on me that today is the first day of the last week here in Siena.  I've learned much about Dante-- a lot of which I've yet to process, seen works of art that art historians drool over, met wonderful people from here in Italy and from all over the US, learned some Italian (not nearly as much I wish I had), and found a little piece of myself that I didn't know existed.

I am determined to cram in as much as I can in the next week!!!