Sienna

On Thursday we drove south to Sienna. It takes about as long to drive there as it does to find a place to park, but we finally found a spot around the outside of the soccer stadium not far from the walls of the historic center. In charge of sightseeing activities, I opted for a tour of the Duomo first (after Jake's suggestion of stopping for a piece of Torta di Nonno at the first Pasticerria we came across – excellent rich torte filled with chocolate and topped with chopped hazlenuts!). The outside of the cathedral is one of the most elaborate I've ever seen with multicolored marble, animal sculptures and fancy flourishes of all types (see photo). Inside is just as impressive. I suggest renting the audiotour for a good explanation of the features of the church. Sections of the marble floor are only unveiled during the months of August and September, and they were well worth seeing. They were the most elaborate marble art works I've ever seen (see the She-Wolf of Sienna suckling the children of Romulus and Remus). The pillars lining the nave are striped black and white, the official colors of Sienna (see photo). Jake was reminded of a certain type of striped kachina from the southwest. One alcove contains the Pitti library with frescoes and a ceiling that look like they were freshly painted. The detail and vibrancy of the colors were astonishing (see photo).

From there we walked down to Il Campo, the central piazza that is divided into nine pie-shaped sections for the original 9 neighborhoods. The buildings surrounding the plaza seemed austere compared to many other towns, but the sheer size and number of people around made it seem lively. We meandered the streets near the piazza until we were hungry enough for lunch, and by chance picked a slow food restaurant called Hosteria il Carroccio a block off Il Campo on Casato di Sotto I think. It was a small place that packs the tables into a colorfully painted room decorated with photographs of children and events in Sienna. I ordered mushroom soup with chick peas and Jake got the lamb stew with “windy beans”. Both were excellent. My soup had at least 2 kinds of mushrooms and you could taste each of them distinctively. It was a rich soup, but not overly mushroomy. Jake's stew was very thick with white beans and chunks of lamb. We saw other wonderful looking dishes pass by including bruschetta with kale and tomatoes, bifsteca florentina, and several pasta dishes.

My next sightseeing goal was the botanic garden behind the Accademia di Fisiocrifici (no idea what it means, but it sounds important!). We finally found it and it was a pleasant place to wander through away from the tourists. The garden is built on a steep hillside and ends at the city walls. Paths wander back and forth starting at the top with medicinal, cooking and other useful plants arranged by family. The second tier has an area with tropical plants next to a greenhouse and a section of native Tuscan plants. I figured out the names of a few things that I've seen on walks and I'll add the names to the Nature Notes blog entry. Further downhill are fruit trees and a vegetable garden (photo) as well as some small pools of native aquatic plants. One pool featured purple loosestrife, yellow- flag iris and narrowleaf cattail – all invasive in the U.S.!

The streets around Sienna are narrow and go in loops because of the hill the city is built on. Only a few cars are allowed within the historic center. The big bi-annual event in Sienna is the Palio, a crazy horse race run around the outside of Il Campo – horses that have lost their riders can still win the race. Each neighborhood sponsors horses and has its own flag. You know you're in a particular neighborhood by the flags hung along the streets and the street lamps (photo). Various symbols include the turtle, the snail, the rhino, the giraffe, and a fish – they must have chosen their symbols before there was a horse race!

There are many shopping opportunities in town with plenty of leather stores, pottery stores, paper stores, and food stores. We browsed a lot but only bought some chocolate cantucchi cookies (biscotti in the US). Oh, and a gelato for Jake before going home! Good thing he had one since it took us another half hour to figure out how to get out of town.