We arrived by train to Siena, a town in central Tuscany that is one of the most visited places in all of Italy. The main square, Piazza del Campo, is a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Siena is made up of 17 contrade, or wards, each with a distinct mascot or animal to represent them. These were setup in the Middle Ages to send troops to the military efforts designed to defend Siena's independence form Florence. Each contrada is still civically active today, with residents giving money to their local community center and sponsoring a horse in the annual horse race in the square.
We climbed to the top of a very high clock tower in the square, Torre del Mangia, built exactly as tall as the Duomo in order to demonstrate the state had the same power as the church.
The 360 degree views from the top were just breathtaking, these pictures don't do them justice.
Another day, another Duomo.
Duomo actually means dome. Several Italian cities have these mega-churches, referred colloquially as "il duomo". The formal Italian term for a cathedral is "cattedrale"; a duomo may be either a present or formal cathedral (the latter always in a town that no longer has a bishop, nor therefor a cathedral). THANKS WIKIPEDIA.
If you get to Siena, this duomo is pretty cool.
We bought an "OPA Si Pass" which grants you entrance to the Duomo, the Crypt, Baptistery of San Giovani, the Baptismal Font, and the Museo dell' Opera.
In an ideal world, one would study the important Italian art, architecture, and history before coming on the trip. You would buy a travel guide, pay your way onto English walking tours, buy every English audio guide with the dorky headphones and 1980's looking cell phone attachments.
In our reality, we don't don't want to stress too much. There's so much going on when you're traveling in a foreign country (WHERE's THE BATHROOM? I'M HANGRY. ARE WE LOST?!) that you can only plan so much. So we show up to the sites, buy entrance occasionally, read any signage that happens to be translated into English, people watch, and take-in the extraordinary religious paintings, inconography, sculptures, and frescoes.
Pro-tip: Sometimes we try and listen in on other English-led private tours.
And sometimes we break for gelato.
View from our hotel window. Go Team Siena!
For dinner we tried to go to a restaurant our friend Marilyn recommended (hi Marilyn!) but it was all booked. So we found Guidos, an unassuming storefront that was actually big and wine cellar like once you stepped inside.
Pasta with Parmesan and pepper for Alexis, a Tuscan-style soup for me. My soup was very interesting and very delicious. It had little bits of al dente pasta with loads of vegetables, puréed chickpeas, and a hefty glug of olive oil and cracked pepper.
Dessert was chocolate soufflé and tiramisu.
Tomorrow we're off to San Gimignano.
xoxo, EKW
p.s. From Alexis: "if you're putting in there I split my pants, tell them about your bird poop incident."
(S)He who controls the pen...
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