Siena cathedral_The construction phases of the intermediate cathedral

Siena cathedral has an unparalleled, if not unique, construction history due to the ongoing architectural and constructive challenges that the builders had to face. Several large-scale transformations took place between the 12th and 14th centuries, overcoming configurations in the cathedral that were completed or for the most part already built in terms of their overall structure. But the incredible architectural synthesis of Siena cathedral does not stop here; a sense of the challenge that left behind signs of the risks, experimentation and failures in its stones can also be perceived. All of this makes it especially necessary to retrace some key passages of the cathedral’s construction history in order to identify its countless unique features and more fully understand the reasons for the additional significant changes made to the layout of the structures after the long and incessant work carried out in the Middle Ages.