Facciatone

The Facciatone rises above the city as a colossal, incomplete wall of white and black marble, marked by high, open arches. It was intended to serve as the grand entrance for an ambitious expansion of the Siena Cathedral, known as the Duomo Nuovo. In thirteen thirty-nine, city leaders planned to transform the existing cathedral into a mere transept for a massive new structure that would have stood among the largest in the world.