by Redazione, written on 01/18/2022, 20:15:53
Categories: Travel

In the lands of Siena it is possible to find many species of animals depicted in sculptures, paintings or objects. An itinerary to discover all-Sienese bestiary, on the trail of fantastic and non-fantastic animals, from prehistoric times to today.

Bears, lions, fish, amphibians, birds, fantastic creatures: they are many and of various species the animals which can be found depicted in sculptures, paintings or objects in the lands of Siena, or traces of which date back to prehistoric times. Let’s try an itinerary here a real itinerary to be able to admire a all Sienese bestiary, on the trail of fantastic and non-fantastic animals, ranging from prehistoric times to the present day.

Our journey to discover animals starts from Civic museum for the prehistory of Mount Cetona, where it is stored the skeleton of a cave bear, otherwise known as cave bear, found in the Grotta Lattaia, on the slopes of Mount Cetona. Today it is one of the main protagonists of the museum, but more than 45 thousand years of evidence of the presence of prehistoric man in the Sienese Valdichiana, materials that document the ancient natural environment and the Prehistory of the area: from the remains of a mammoth to the flint tools used by Neanderthal man, to pottery, metal, bone and stone objects from the Neolithic and of the Bronze Age.

From Prehistory we go to the VII-VI century BC with the feline head in pietra serena preserved at Archaeological Museum of Chianti Senese in Castellina in Chianti. It is a lion’s head, with half-open jaws, carved in sandstone, which was found in the southern tomb of the Tumulus of Montecalvario, in defense of the sepulcher. Sculptures of monstrous royal animals that had the task of protecting the aristocratic tombs were particularly widespread in the Vulci countryside.

the head served as a base for another element, perhaps a wooden column, due to the presence of a cylindrical cavity on the upper face, provided with two through holes. The feline head does not refer to the Etruscan sphere, but rather close to the oriental-influence similarity to the first large stone sculptures of Etruria, such as those of Casale Marittimo, of Vetulonia, of Cerveteri and, beyond the Apennines, of the Bolognese steles.

They meet fantastic creature to the Murlo Archaeological Museum, where it is kept a Gorgon-headed antefix which served above all to protect the wooden parts of the roofs from rainwater, as well as having a profound religious significance, as it removed evils and propitiated the gods. This Gorgon with a wide open mouth, the large eyes, the pendulous tongue and the sharp teeth welcomed all those who came to the Etruscan princely residence of Poggio Civitate. Charun, the Etruscan counterpart of Charon who, with his flaming hair and witty gaze, guided souls into the Hereafter leading the infernal chariot pulled by two lions and two griffins, it is instead the protagonist of the Tomb of the Infernal Quadriga, a masterpiece of Etruscan art of the IV century BC discovered in Sarteano in 2003 and a copy, in 1: 1 scale, is kept in Civic Archaeological Museum of Sarteano. A real is depicted on the walls of the tomb hellish journey between monstrous animals and demons: to wait Charun they are two dead lying at a banquet; the creature will lead them to Hades, a world populated by monsters, such as the three-headed snake wrapped in a large coil and the hippocampus, an animal that is half horse and half fish. Also to Closed, to the Civic Museum The underground city, urns carved in alabaster or modeled in terracotta are visible: on the lid the deceased was depicted semi-reclining at a banquet, while on the chest were carved mythological scenes or images connected to the journey to the afterlife, including winged monsters, gorgons and farewell scenes.

From fantastic and monstrous creatures we return to real animals of the Natural History Museum of the Accademia dei Fisiocritici of Siena, located in the former convent of Santa Mustiola which belonged to the Camaldolese order. The museum seat owns over 140 specimens of marine mammals, only minimally exposed, including one mounted skeleton of fin whale 15 meters long, nicknamed Nero from the museum’s online community, which was recovered in Piombino. An extraordinary one is also preserved here zoological collection which includes invertebrates, insects, molluscs, amphibious fish, birds, mammals, and even some “freaks of nature”, such as the two-headed lamb and the three-legged hen. There are also many naturalized vertebrate specimens, skeletons, specimens in alcohol, mollusc shells and insect boxes; and, about three thousand finds of birds, almost seven hundred finds referable to about one hundred and fifty species of mammals with specimens coming from all continents, rarities and extinct species. The new acquired or prepared materials not derived from catches, but only from judicial seizures and the recovery of already dead specimens, and the presence of a taxidermic laboratory guarantees the preparation, maintenance and restoration of all specimens, as well as material of study for researchers from the University of Siena. The Museum continues to do research: today it has two projects of citizen science for the description of local species.

Examples of painted animals they can be found instead at Museum of Sacred Art of Val D’Arbia in Buonconvento, for example in theAnnunciation among saints from Girolamo di Benvenuto: pictured here a peacock. Sacred to the goddess Juno, the peacock appears very early in early Christian art, as a symbol of spiritual rebirth and resurrection; according to ancient beliefs in fact it was believed that it lost its feathers in autumn, to regain them, even more beautiful, in spring and that its flesh never decomposed after death. This is why it is a symbol of the incorruptibility of the body and of eternal life. It is, however, in the Civic Museums of San Gimignano that we can admire a beautiful bestiary painted over the centuries: bears, dogs, horses, magpies, swallows, owls, goldfinches, fish, pigs appear along the halls of the Civic Museums. In the Dante’s room of the Palazzo Comunale, right next to the bust of the Supreme Poet, a bear white, among the first and few documents that testify the presence of this animal in Europe which until then, in the last decades of the thirteenth century, had never been documented. However, the portataca of this representation should also be emphasized because it is a symbol along the king of animals, an object of veneration and a symbol of strength and courage, but also a symbol of sins and vices (lust, gluttony, sloth) and for this object of hunting. In the same cycle of frescoes by Azzo di Masetto in the Town Hall they are depicted I can, in particular greyhounds: often used in running hunting, greyhounds are represented alongside nobles as a symbol of chivalrous virtues. On the other hand, there are several depicted in the fresco by San Lorenzo in Ponte (1413) dedicated to Triumph of Death: little dogs playing surrounded by ladies in a smaller environment, a garden (in this case the dog becomes an attribute of the domus and the noblewoman, a symbol of marital fidelity). In the Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art “Raffaele De Grada” the pictorial cycle of Giannetto Fieschi, Danger – Walking Couple # 1, once again sees the dog as the protagonist: he is portrayed as movement and as sound, while he barks, and one of the elderly is torn to pieces by the dogs that must protect them; in this case, therefore, it is the ideals of fidelity themselves that turn against the human being.

Also in the frescoes of Azzo di Masetto of the Town Hall it is visible, in the scene of Knights tournament, the war use of horse; the same animal is then depicted on an alabaster urn case with a journey to the underworld of the 2nd century BC preserved in the Archaeological Museum, where the horse becomes co-protagonist of the scene. Finally, even at the Museo di Palazzo Corboli in Asciano we come across one owl, who seems to watch over theAdoration of the shepherds by the persuasive fifteenth-century painter Pietro di Giovanni Ambrosi: an animal with a double aspect, a symbol of wisdom and knowledge and at the same time of darkness and death, just to foreshadow the destiny of Christ child. Inside the Palazzo Comunale many birds are depicted, including a owl with two magpies on the door of the Podestà’s room, frescoed by Memmo di Filippuccio at the beginning of the fourteenth century; magpies are still found in the roots of families or in Dante’s room. And again, the goldfinch, symbol of the Passion of Christ, is recognized in the two paintings of the Pinacoteca, one by Jacopo da Firenze and the other by Taddeo di Bartolo, both Madonna and Child, while the swallow, whose song recalls that of the victim invoking protection, is noted in the Majesty of Cenni di Francesco di Ser Cenni at the Town Hall and in the Madonna and Child by the same author in the Church of San Lorenzo in Ponte, both of around 1413, in the Madonna and Child by Neri di Bicci (1460-70) and in that of Pier Francesco Fiorentino (around 1477) both in the Palazzo Comunale.

A dolphin is painted over the tallest tower of the Stories of San Gimignano by Taddeo di Bartolo (1401) and finally the pig in the Madonna and Child with Saints Bartholomew, Antonio Abbot and the donor Fra ‘Tommaso Cortesi by Pier Francesco Fiorentino (around 1490), in the fresco by Bartolo di Fredi in the Sala di Dante (1366-67), in the Majesty by Lippo Memmi (1317) and in at least two paintings in the Pinacoteca where the little pig he is represented with a charming attitude with his paw raised at the feet of Saint Anthony the Abbot.

In short, a truly rich bestiary awaits us in the museums of the lands of Siena, a starting point for an itinerary suitable for families and also for children; a treasure hunt that holds unexpected surprises and fun.