Is the floor original?
eel pah-VEE-men-toh eh oh-ree-JEE-nah-leh.
When noticing an elaborately decorated floor in an Italian church. Many Italian church floors are themselves masterpieces, featuring marble inlay, cosmati work, or medieval stone carving.
Il pavimento is the floor. È originale means is it original — has it survived from the original building? Italian church floors tell their own stories through the materials used, the symbols depicted, and the names of the buried who paid for the stone slabs.
Questo è il pavimento cosmatesco?
Is this Cosmatesque paving?
The distinctive geometric marble inlay style of medieval Rome.
Ci sono tombe nel pavimento?
Are there tombs in the floor?
Many Italian church floors contain burial slabs.
Le scritte sulle lastre sono di personaggi sepolti qui?
Are the inscriptions on the slabs of people buried here?
About the identity of those commemorated in the floor.
The Cathedral of Siena has one of Italy's most extraordinary church floors — 56 panels of marble intarsia depicting biblical scenes and allegories, created by 40 artists over two centuries (1369-1547). It is usually protected by wooden boards and revealed only during special periods — seeing it uncovered is a rare privilege.