Italy, Tuscany - what a great place to visit!

The trip to Italy was great. Caught a cold on the way back, however, and I have not been doing much of anything the first few days of this week. I’m feeling a bit better now and able to go whole minutes at a time without sneezing or blowing my nose, so I thought I’d do a recap of the trip.

A few weeks ago, I got an email from Sara B. with the subject “Coming to a country near you” and it started “Is me!” She was on a work trip that started in England & ended in Italy; Siena to be exact. Her plans were to take a week at the end of the trip & sightsee. We conferred over email & I decided what the heck, go. So I went on-line to Lufthansa and paid a small fortune for the 1 hour flight from Munich to Florence. (It’s high season! And I don’t feel up to taking the trains just yet, I will start that probably this fall.)

Much to my surprise, at the end of the transaction, I was informed that the paper tickets would be mailed to the address on my credit card. Hmmm, that can’t be right, it wasn’t what I intended. Long story short, Florence airport is not set up for electronic tickets, so paper ones are automatically issued. (Not set up for electronic tickets! I never imagined there was still an airport on the planet that wasn’t, but have been assured that if so, it would be in Italy.) The very helpful folks at Lufthansa were able to change the destination address for the tickets from the one that accompanies my American credit card to the new address in Germany. Whew!

In the midst of her work trip Sara was able to get us a hotel in Florence. She also was able to extend her stay at the hotel in Siena so we had places to stay.

On Sunday July 3rd, I flew into Florence. It is a very small airport. It didn’t take long for the bags to come out, I got through the security door & Sara was there. It was great to see her. We headed out to the rental car – a Ford Mondeo - & off to the Tuscan hills. We went to San Gimignano, about an hour’s drive away. Tuscany looks a lot like California, with olive trees instead of oaks in the hills. San Gimignano is a medieval town perched on a hill top, complete with brick wall fortification and many many brick towers. Quoting from Frommers: “The spires started rising in the bad old days of the 1200s partly to defend against outside invaders but mostly as command centers for San Gimignano’s warring families. Several successive waves of the plague that swept through the town (1348, 1464 and 1631) caused the economy to crumble, and San Gimignano became a provincial backwater. Because there was no impetus for new building, by the time tourism began picking up in the 19th century, visitors found a preserved medieval village of crumbling towers.”

We found a place to park on the other side of town from where the tour busses were letting people off. Walked up and up into town, through a doorway in the brick wall and onto narrow cobblestone streets lined with bring buildings. We soon found a small ‘enoteca’, a wine shop, that also housed a deli and had a light lunch along with a glass of the lovely local white wine: Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Yummy – dry, with great fruit aroma, light alcohol content. Great for a hot summer day.

We wandered around the streets, looking at the shops. As it was Sunday, most of the shops were closed. Probably a good thing, too, because there were a couple that featured beautiful works of alabaster: lamps, bowls, statues. I love alabaster and hope to someday have several light fixtures with alabaster coverings or bowls (for a hanging ceiling light.) But my suitcase was full to start. Unlike the dry heat of California, the humid European hot days cause me to sweat & want a couple tops for each day. I had forgotten about humidity in my 18 years in California!

We walked to the Rocca, the remaineder of the city’s 14th century fortress, and climbed the walls. Great view of the countryside from up high. I love the light, and all the farm fields & olive trees on the hills. It is just beautiful. On my first day, I was already making plans to come back.

The travel books advise to hang out in San Gimignano until all the tour buses leave. So we got a gelato and sat down in the shade in the main piazza – town square – and chatted until about 6. It seemed that there were even more people now, so we decided to head to Siena, We drove to the Hotel Patrizia which is on the outskirts of town, almost directly across the street from where Sara had been working. Convenient, quiet, with air conditioning and a pool. Dropped off my suitcase, and then headed out to walk to the heart of Siena. The walk was downhill, took about 30 minutes until we came to the walls of Siena center. Walking in, it seemed a lot like San G, except the streets were wider and there were a lot of shops. Then we ducked down this steep side street, down a flight of stairs and – O My! – entered the Piazza del Campo. This is the heart of Siena – a vast town “square” that is really shaped like a scallop shell, sloping downhill towards the Palazzo Pubblico, the huge town hall. The Campo is paved in softly worn brick, a beautiful terra cotta color. The walls of the surrounding buildings are various shades of warm stucco yellows and we had entered the Piazza just about twilight as the sky was deepening to azure. It was stunning. I wanted to take pictures but my little camera could not fit it all in.

People have said that il Campo is like the beach without water. It’s ringed on the upper end with 10 or so cafes, with plenty of outside tables. People sit there & people watch as the Campo fills up; groups just sit down on the bricks and talk, or they hang out down around the Palazzo Pubblico. I didn’t see any Frisbee or picnic blankets, but it really was like being at the shore. We got dinner at one of the cafes and had some more Vernaccia, sat there for a couple hours before we made the hike back to the hotel.

Monday the 4th we drove into Siena. My legs were feeling the effects of all the walking the day before, especially all the ups & downs. So Sara drove & I navigated as best I could. The streets are marked pretty well as to the direction that they go, although it’s hard to pick out the sign you’re looking for among the 6 or 8 that are on the poles. But we only severely annoyed a couple of other drivers, and we found our way to the stadium parking lot just outside the city walls. Up the flight of stairs out of the lot, and within a couple blocks we were at the edge of the city. We walked through the Piazza Santa Mother Theresa, and towards the Duomo. We stood in line for only a short while – a good thing too, it was getting really hot – and entered this church. Again, O My! Huge, ornately decorated from the busts of the popes lining the ceiling, about 60 feet up, to the elaborate mosaics on the floor, to the paintings and altars (one of which contains some carvings by Michalengelo) and the emotionally resonating chapel that contains the Madonna del Voto. This was surrounded by many charms? Offerings? Thanks? Of silver hearts, and some motorcycle and bicycle helmets. I definitely got the feelings of gratitude and thanks, vibrations, like I’ve felt no other place, not in Sedona, nor in the stone circle in the Lake District. (Plus, no sheep doots!)

We spent a couple hours in the Duomo. I would love to go back when it’s not so hot and crowded with a book to tell me more about what I’m seeing. A note: they really do want modest dress in the churches; will hand you a paper drape to cover your shoulders & torso if they think you need it. Mostly women got these, but we did see one teenage boy in a very droopy tank top get one too.

It was getting on about lunchtime, so we left the church and walked another way back to the Piazza del Campo. About Siena, it’s built on a hilltop, of course, the better to defend itself. But this hilltop is split into thirds by some severely steep ravines. So walking in Siena is down, up, down up. Great workout!

We had lunch at a café on the Campo. After lunch (by now it was about 3:00), we walked to the Gelateria, had great gelato, then found our way back to the car, went back to the hotel. Sara napped and I took advantage of the pool. It was a great way to cool down. We drove back into town at 6, parked on the street near the stadium and walked back up down up down to il Campo. Sara had a list of restaurants recommended by coworkers, a couple were on Via Jaques Dupre, which started at the bottom end of il Campo. And, of course, then veered sharply up. We got to the restaurant recommended just before 7. They open at 7, so we sat in a small square nearby to wait. By 7:15 they weren’t open yet, so we decided to walk a bit. We came upon a pathway that lead to a small park, on the ridge. Passed a couple young men working out with the flags. Saw part of Siena spread out beneath us, and were able to take a couple pictures of the tower in the Piazza, without the building cranes in the frame.

The sound of drumming led us back where we’d come from, it was one young man practicing on a snare drum, the kind you march with. (This and the flags are all part of Palio, more about that later.)

We checked the restaurant again, still not open. There was another recommendation for a place on the other end of the street, back down by il Campo, so we headed off towards it. As we got close to the Campo, we could see across it, up by the cafes, that there was a parade taking place. Flags and drums at the front, a large banner held aloft, and townspeople walking along behind. These were people from Bruca, the winning contrada from the Palio that had been held on July 2. Palio is a horse race, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, which is held July 2 and August 16 every year in the Campo, since at least 1310. The contrade are the neighborhoods of Siena center, each one gets a horse & jockey. A lottery is held to decide which 10 of the 17 contrade participate in the race. There is a week’s worth of preparation, much pageantry, pages in medieval dress performing with the flags of the contradta, parades, blessings, feasts all leading up to the race. Sara did get to the race on the 2nd, will link to her story & pictures if she puts them on line. The Palio is traditional, fraught with meaning in every step, flag, costume, gesture, and has had reams written about it. Sara had a book about it that we read bits of when we had time.

So this parade was the displaying of the banner by the winning contrada. They proceeded around il Campo. As they rounded the corner & came towards us, we could see it was the young men with the flags in front, all also wearing a scarf of their contrada, and many sucking pacifiers (they won, so it is like a birth for them, so the books say.) The men of the contrada were behind them, then the women. As the women got to the corner, they started singing a song. (Likely; we’re the best, we won, you didn’t, you disgust the city.) At the end of it, a woman in front shouted Uno, Duo, Trey and they all turned around and bent over to show they each had paper on their butts with 2 brown handprints. What a hoot! I’m sure it has great significance. The parade moved on & Sara and I found the restaurant. Had a great meal. Afterwards we walked back to the car & found our way to the hotel the short way. We’re starting to get somewhat familiar with Siena by now, it must be almost time to leave.

Tuesday the 5th it was actually cool & cloudy. Nice break! After breakfast we walked back towards town to a yarn shop that Sara had spotted. She was browsing the beautiful yarns and I was entranced by the hundreds of skeins of embroidery floss. Beautiful! I will pick that hobby back up again here. I refrained from buying anything as I don’t yet have a specific project in mind. There was a great book on the counter, the Italian version of the Embroidery Stitch Bible, which I plan to order from Amazon real soon. We walked back to the hotel, checked out, loaded up the car & drove back to Siena city. Parked again at the stadium – if you take the lower level, there’s parking in the shade. Walked up into the city, and started to buy souvenirs. Sara bought several Palio scarves and a snow globe. I bought postcards showing il Campo, to have some pictures for myself. We had lunch at yet another of the cafes on the Campo, and gelato afterwards. It was threatening rain, but never did. We departed Siena around 3, and drove to the Florence airport, where Sara turned in the rental car and we got a cab into Florence.

We arrived at our hotel, the Alessandra, around 5:30. in Florence, the streets are narrow, the buildings are 5 or 6 stories and many are right up to the street which is shared by cars, scooters & motorcycles, taxis the occasional bicyclist, mobs of tourists, horse drawn-carriages and locals going about their business. A hard city to drive in.

As we were checking in, they told us that the Accademia was open tonight, from 7 – 10, and FREE. This is where David lives. So, we unpacked a bit, changed and called to the Uffizi reservation line. (Got reservations for 12:45 on Thursday. This costs a euro or two more, but it saves hours of standing in line. You show up to the reservations area, buy your tickets, and go to the reservations entrance during yout 15 minute time slot, and get right in.) We then headed out at 7. Our hotel is a block in on Via Borgo SS Apostoli from Via Por S. Maria, which means we were one block from the famous Ponte Veccio. So we took a look. This is a low bridge across the Arno river that has shops on it. Originally they were the slaughterhouses, convenient to the river, but one of the early rulers had enough with the smell, kicked them out & installed goldsmiths. And the bridge is supposed to be beautiful, the best viewing spot in Florence, yadda yadda. To my eye it looked very Santana Row, except way more crowded. The jewelry was overwhelming, pretty much the same in all the shops and very gorpy. Think cocktail rings.

We fought our way back out of the crowds and stopped in a snack bar to grab a quick dinner. Continued up the street and came to the Duomo & bell tower of Florence. What a marvel – it is huge huge huge and clad in white, pink & green marble. Teeming with tourists at all times of day. It is beautiful and way over the top.

We continued on and got to the Accademia around 8, walked around it & saw the Piazza Santissima Annunziata, which the guide books say is the prettiest in Florence. Pah. Doesn’t hold a candle to il Campo.

We went into the Accedemia, and could see David down the long corridor. 2004 was his 500th birthday, and there were some modern art exhibits that were intended to pertain to that. Mostly we didn’t see the point.

The place was not crowded. It was amazing to be in the same room with David, walk around him (great butt) and have the time to really look at the sculpture. What a gift!

In one of the side rooms was a “multi-media” modern exhibit, a film of an art historian giving a lecture on David for his 500th birthday. It’s subtitled in English, sardonic and very funny. Lots of comments about the young white hero, and the machismo and sexism and racism of glorifying David. If you get a chance, see it too!

On our way back to our hotel we passed Carabe, the 2nd most famous gelateria in Florence. Since we’d indulged in Siena that day already, we decided to wait for another day to eat here. We walked back past the Duomo again, looked around & marveled, and then back to the hotel to pass out.

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Well, it’s time for me to rest & get lunch. More tomorrow!