The Facciatone (big façade of the Duomo Nuovo) is worth a visit. Climb up to its panoramic terrace that takes you to “the rooftop of Siena”: the view over the city and the surrounding countryside will take your breath away!. If you are wondering what exactly is this Facciatone: on August 23, 1339, it was decided to enlarge Siena Cathedral (the construction work had already begun in February). The project intended to keep the existing church, which was supposed to become the transept of the new cathedral, modifying the dome and creating a fore-structure with two aisles and a nave, six bays and a new apse. After 1348, due to the economic recession caused by the Black Death, which had decimated the population, and problems of statics that had emerged, the construction slowed down and eventually stopped.
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