Siena cathedral_The Duomo Nuovo: a lost challenge

In September 1339, it was decided the construction of the Duomo Nuovo. The documents allow us to trace the progress of the works, which started with the façade, now commonly referred to as the “Facciatone” [the large façade], and extended to the naves. Given the imposing mass of the built basilican body, the dismantling of the drum and the dome seems inevitable, which not surprisingly had been envisaged in Domenico di Agostino and Niccolò di Cecco del Mercia’s report in peremptory terms, leaving no room for compromise solutions. In the spring of 1357, the condition of the structures of the naves of the Duomo Nuovo became critical to the point of requiring expert opinions. The critical conditions reached by the structures are still seen today in the surviving aisle, examining the profiles of the pillars and the section of semi-columns found between the longitudinal arches. The structures surviving today are actually the remains of a basilican body that was almost completely built.