Wednesday 21 May: A day in Tuscany

Gary and I got up early today, had a good breakfast in our b&b (rolls, coffee, and excellent jam), and walked to the train station to meet our tour bus for the day’s outing in Tuscany. The weather was warm but not hot, and the sun was bright between clouds. Our bus was a double-decker, so we rode in the top. We were headed for Siena, an old Tuscan town and medieval rival of Florence, about an hour and fifteen minutes away. The drive was beautiful, with olive groves, vineyards, and fields of grain and poppies. Centuries-old villas, farms, and churches overlooked orchards and fields that had been cultivated for thousands of years. We arrived in Siena and met out tour guide Adele, and native of the city whose family had lived there for a thousand years. Siena was an important and rich independent republic in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, until it was conquered in 1555 by the Medici and eventually incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
Siena is a beautiful medieval city, full of well-preserved churches, palaces, and civic buildings. For centuries it has been divided into seventeen regions called contrade, each with its own flag, church, fountain, and social hall. Membership in these is hereditary, and children receive a parchment at birth certifying membership. Throughout the city are colorful street lamps shaped like cornucopia. We also saw the original home office of the Monte dei Paschi bank, the oldest operating bank in the world. This fifteenth century building is still a working bank! In the middle of town is the main square, the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo, with the beautiful medieval town hall and campanile, one of the highest in Italy. This square is the location of the Palio, a horse race held twice each summer for the last eight hundred years. Horses and riders representing Siena’s various contrade race around the square, and the winner is awarded a banner. The entire affair is celebrated with a huge festival featuring medieval costumes, parades, and music, and draws visitors from around the world.
From Campo we walked to the gorgeous Duomo, the cathedral of Siena. This beautiful Gothic church, decorated in red and green marble, is an incredible sight. The façade is very ornate, and the interior lavishly decorated. The floors feature excellent marble inlays of religious scenes and allegorical figures. To preserve them they are mostly kept covered except for a few weeks each year. Also, a few are left visible and are roped off. One of the side altars in the cathedral features four small statues by Michelangelo.
Gary and I stopped for lunch at a pizzeria on the Campo, where we had some of the best pizza I have ever had in my life, and I’ve eaten pizza all over Italy and the USA for decades! During lunch a huge storm of wind and rain came out of nowhere. We walked a short distance in the rain to meet up with our bus, and struck up a conversation with a mother and daughter from Perth, Australia, who were touring Italy. The man escorting our group back to our bus was going way too fast for most of us, including me and the Australians, and Gary ran up to him and told him he had to slow down. Back at the bus, the driver told me that it was too dangerous for me to use the bus’ restroom while we were parked, and I had to wait until we got to the highway. As soon as his back was turned I picked the restroom lock with my apartment’s ginormous skeleton key.
Next was an hour’s drive to the old medieval town of San Gimignano. This drive was even more stunning than our earlier trip. The storm had passed, and shafts of dazzling sunlight alternated with the shadow of clouds rushing across the rolling Tuscan hills. It seemed like every ridge and cliff was topped by a villa, monastery or abandoned tower, while houses and farms the color of terra cotta stood among orchards of silvery-gray olive trees and fields of sangiovese grapes destined to become Chianti wine. You always hear about the beauty of the Tuscan countryside, but descriptions can’t come close to describing it. I shot several pictures of our approach to San Gimignano, the city of towers. This ancient town once had 76 tall towers, from which individual noble families defended their part of the city. When one family was conquered by another, its tower was knocked down. Fourteen remain, along with well-preserved streets, houses, churches, and shops of Tuscan stone. The city is on a tall hill, and the streets are all very steep. Luckily for me, a couple of months in Rome have gotten me used to hills, but it was still a workout (for me; as usual, Gary trotted around like a mountain goat). The town is now filled with shops selling local wines, food specialties, and crafts, especially the painted ceramics of Tuscany.
Another late afternoon drive through the Tuscan countryside brought us back to Florence. For our last night, we decided to dine on one of the city’s favorite foods: steak grilled on oak fire. I washed mine down with a very nice local Chianti classico; Gary, who doesn’t care for red wine, had an excellent pinot grigio. That evening we hung out with the college kids again, with whom I traded some recipes. Before bed we packed for the next day’s trip, which would take us to Venice.
If you ever have a chance to go to Florence, Siena, San Gimignano, or anyplace else in Tuscany, do it! The food is excellent, the wine superb, and the art you see everywhere is matched in beauty only by the fantastic scenery. We have lots of pictures on Flickr at www.flickr.com/danielcmack. Take a look!