Benvenuto all’Almadomus Hotel

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• Trenitalia : orari e biglietti ferroviari
• Aereoporto Siena : Aeroporto di Siena-SAY
• Aeroporto Firenze: Aereoporto di Firenze - FLR
• Aeroporto Pisa : Aereoporto Pisa
• Aeroporto di Roma : Aereoporti di Roma - FCO o CIA
• Train : Autolinee TRAIN - orari
• Sena : Autolinee SENA - orari
• Sita : Autolinee SITA - orari
• Rama: Autolinee RAMA - orari
• Comune di Siena: Collegamento al Comune di Siena
• sito dei caterinati: SANTA CATERINA DA SIENA
• Palio Di Siena: Cronache, notizie e statistiche sul Palio di Siena
• The Beginning of Sienese Art: OPERA DELLA METROPOLITANA

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If you ever happen to travel in Toscana and get a chance to visit Siena, make it a point to see the birthplace of St. Catherine, the patroness saint of her native town and a co-patroness of all Italy. The hilltop house where Catherine's parents settled in the middle of the fourteenth century had a chapel built on its premises some hundred years later. Spiritual followers would come along to venerate the Sienese mystic and spend long hours discussing how to glorify her deeds and popularize her teachings. A second chapel was set up inside the house in the sixteenth century; at the outset of the seventeenth, the construction began of a church to store a precious crucifix through which the saint had allegedly received her stigmata, or signs of Christ's crucifixion wounds. Overtime a whole architectural compound grew here, now known as the Sanctuary-House of St. Catherine. And although it took more than one century to erect and was not built in one single style, the sanctuary comes across as a harmonious blend of the artistic traditions of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Baroque. To better feel and appreciate the beauty and the power of this place, go for accommodation to the adjacent hotel, called Alma Domus. It is based in a building that formerly housed a wool dyeing workshop and was rented out to Catherine's father along with the residential premises. The hotel is remarkable not just for its well-preserved historical architecture -- massive medieval pillasters and beams, elegant arches and architraves of the Renaissance -- but also for its period furniture in the sitting room, its paintings and a Bluthner grand piano, offered as a gift by the famous twentieth-century Italian composer Rito Selvaggi. He used this very instrument to compose his tribute to the Siena-born mystic, one of the most venerated by the Roman Catholic Church. Alma Domus' facade overlooks the Basilica of St. Domenico, which has a chapel dedicated to St. Catherine and houses some of her relics. Left of the basilica there is a picturesque stairway, flanked on one side with pine trees and leading to a centuries-old fountain. Domus' doorstep is just a few steps down; as you enter, you find yourself in a little homey garden, with roses and olives in ceramic pots, a picnic table, and a child's bicycle left in the corner. The opposite side of the building offers a vista spectacular in its grandeur. A unique vantage point from where one can view the entire city, sitting on several hills which together form a circle. It is amazing how beautifully Siena's architectural landscape, centered around two focal points -- the Duomo cathedral and the Palazzo Pubblico city hall -- fits in with the natural scenery. The slopes are not built up thoughout, and leave ample space for vegetation. Pines, cypresses, oaks, olive and aspen trees grow densely along the lower "tiers," adding colour to Siena's terracotta-dominated palette, especially in autumn when the crimson, gold and silvery-green foliage brightens up its hills, along with laundry put outside to dry. Beyond the old wall encircling the city are the blue hills of Chianti, and from an Alma Domus window you can watch the sun go down behind them for the night. In the morning, you will wake up to the meditative sound of bells ringing at St. Catherine's and St. Domenico's, and also at the Duomo belfry on the opposite hilltop. The local church bells sing every now and then till late evening, filling the urban space with divine vibrations. And the one-handed medieval clock at the tower of the Palazzo Pubblico makes it possible to forget all about the hustle and bustle of the modern world. Siena is not at odds with modernity; it just moves according to its own rhythm. Hence its harmony. Flow along with this tranquil city, and you will inevitably get the feeling of peace and harmony inside yourselves.

inviato da Caterina Komarov - 04/11/2009

inviato da - 01/01/1970

inviato da - 01/01/1970

inviato da - 01/01/1970

Interesse

Buon giorno, Mi piace molto sapere si questo albergo appartane a la Congregazione delle fratelli de Santo Domingos. Ho estudato con le fratelli a Poços de Caldas - Minas Gerais - Brasile - Colégio São Domingos, interna per tutta la mia gioventù, e anche gli mi fili, qui en São Paulo - Colégio Rainha da Paz. Ora vado a conoscere Siena con il mio marito in giugno e allora restare a suo albergo. Prego, signora, rispondere a questo e-mail e, me scuzi al mio portitaliano. Grazie tante, Sylvia

inviato da Sylvia Gonçalves - 30/04/2009