Siena

Today’s adventures took us to the Tuscan town of Siena, located about 90 minutes south of Florence.  Although often thought of as a medieval town, the walled city of Siena was formally established by the Roman Empire in 70 AD, and prior to that settled by the Etruscans sometime between 900-400 BC.  There is much to see in Siena, including the Piazza IL Campo, Museo Civico (Palazzo Pubblico built 1308) and bell tower, the Duomo, a variety of other churches, and the usual architectural sights associated with a city so old.   

Since our plan for today was a short day trip, our focus was on the Piazza IL Campo, Museo, and to climb the bell tower.  That leaves us plenty to see on our next trip. 

Just as you would image a medieval city to be, Siena is characterized by narrow streets, arched alley ways and bridge abutments that connect building together.

Our first activity was to climb the 400 winding steps up to the top of the Palazzo Pubblico bell tower.  Visitors can climb all the way right up to where the bell itself is.

The bell tower is one of the highest points in the city – 400 narrow, winding steps up.  Angie gives the courtyard columns the once over inspection before we start our climb.

A quarter of the way up and our visage of the piazza changes dramatically, giving an excellent view of the piazza fountain.  This is the level where the ticket office is located – I guess they figure that if someone is exhausted at this stage there is no point in selling them a ticket for the steep climb ahead!

A dizzying view up the winding rows of stone stairs kicks off the serious part of our ascent.

Pausing for a look back down, the steep narrow stair wells are so constricted that I had to walk partially sideways to avoid scraping both shoulders on the walls.   The overhead clearance was tight too - when Angie has to duck her head, that is a low ceiling!

When you are climbing a bell tower and you see one of these, you’ve reached your destination! 



















Looking back down on the piazza from the vantage of the top of the bell tower show just how beautiful Piazza IL Campo is.  It is also a key social center of town too – the people you see below are not tourists (there aren’t very many this time of year) these are the locals out with their children, visiting friends, and enjoying the sunshine of a bright February day.

A few blocks over finds the city Duomo, its cathedral and bell tower as well.  We didn’t climb that one. Yet.

Looking east gives a good view of the city wall, the oldest parts of the city within the wall and the later expansion outside the wall.  Also shown here, both within and outside the city wall is the land being put to use cultivating olive trees and vineyards.

Although city buildings are constantly remodeled (inside), upgraded, and re-roofed, the basic architecture of buildings constructed in tight clusters, with clusters divided by narrow streets and passage ways has been preserved and can be seen throughout the city.

The frescos inside the museum (Museo Civico, which is the Palazzo Pubblico) are magnificent, well restored and brightly colored. 

Whether on the walls or the ceiling, their detail is beautiful.

Somewhere along the way we managed to break for lunch at the Ristorante al Mangia. We started with an appetizer of mushrooms and pork ragu on polenta that was outstanding.  For Prima Piatti Angie had a salad with grilled chicken and I had the very traditional Tuscan dish of Pappardelle al Ragu di Cinghiale, a flat, medium wide handmade pasta served with a wild boar ragu sauce – and it was phenomenal!

We look forward to a return to Siena, most likely in April when the Powells are staying with us and we can all go together.  In the meantime, I expect my posts will slow down a bit since starting tomorrow Angie and I are back in Italian school for the next 3-4 weeks.  Now that we have gotten our Permesso di Soggiorno, Residence Registration, and have taken receipt of our car we had shipped over from the U.S. (and finally got it to clear Italian Customs….), we are in a position to go back to school and apply ourselves to our studies, hopefully without too many distractions.

Ciao !!