Today was a rest day. No journey miles walked, though about 5 miles of tourist walking. Today was a day of rest, eating too much, restocking mosquito repellent, and seeing the sights!

Siena, like Florence, has a phenomenal cathedral.

It stands about 250′ high and is about 300′ in length.

Like the Florentine cathedral, it is built with alternating layers of granite and marble to give it that remarkable layered appearance. It was started in 1215 and completed around 1300.

So, how did they do it? Imagine, building a huge building on the top of a hill. You are using several hundred pound blocks of granite … tens of thousands of them,  and you are laying them out over 300′, IN A PERFECTLY STRAIGHT LINE!  If I laid a 5′ brick wall in the garden, it would wobble like a drunken sailor! These lines are perfect!  How did they do it?

Next, how did they inventory all the granite and marble they needed? Imagine being 2/3rds done with the building and running out if one color of marble? The top 1/3 would look different from the bottom!  You could fire the contractor, but since this project took 80 years, you’d probably be firing the grandson/ granddaughter of the contractor!

Imagine trying to lay the granite blocks 250′ in the air? Again, the lines have to be perfect, but moving around an 800 lb. block that high up is no easy feat!

Imagine finishing the stone ceiling, again some 250′ in the air. The engineering and stone cutting had to be perfect!

Now, imagine doing this before calculators, computers, laser levels, cranes, tractors, etc.

This is fascinating to me,  and a bit humbling. When we get overly enamored with our current intelligence/ technology,  it is good to step back and see the profound ingenuity our predecessors demonstrated, nearly a millennia ago.

That’s all for this day off. Ciao!