There was a wonderful atmosphere - despite a large amount of tourists -  in Sienna. It had small alleys, beautiful piazza and the Duomo! A jewel of a cathedral...originally designed and completed between 1215 and 1263 on the site of an earlier structure.  Black and white are the symbolic colors of Siena, etiologically linked to black and white horses of the legendary city's founders, Senius and Aschius.

A most spectacular area of the Duomo was the Piccolomini Library,housing precious illuminated choir books and frescoes painted by the Umbrian Bernardino di betto, called Pinturicchio, probably based on designs by Raphael.

The visual impact of these very colourful frescoes is stunning. The frescoes tell the story of the life of Siena's favourite son, cardinal Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who eventually became Pope Pius II. He was the uncle of cardinal Francesco Piccolomini Todeschini (then archbishop of Siena and the future pope Pius III), who commissioned this library in 1492 as a repository of the books and the manuscript collection of his uncle. The ceiling is covered with painted panels of mythological subjects. They were executed between 1502 and 1503 by Pinturicchio and his assistants.  It was almost as impressive as the Sistine Chapel...we rented an audio-guide in order to be able to understand and fully enjoy the work of arts of this astonishing site.  The following site shows all the walls paintings.

 http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/p/pinturic/siena/index.html