Siena surprised me. I went in only knowing a bit of history I had learned from Wikipedia the night before and I ended up falling in love with this small and charming city. The bus ride was alone was enjoyable. Rolling through the hills of the Chianti, I realized that this is Toscana. This is the real thing. The thing Bed, Bath and Beyond kitchen towels and Barnes and Noble's Tuscan calendars are made of.
Legend says that Siena was founded by Senio and Ascanio, sons of Remus, of the famous duo Romulus and Remus who founded Rome. The she-wolf is found throught the city.
We started off with a two hour tour of the historic center of the city, on the UNESCO World Heritage list, where we learned at there are 17 different sections with names like the catapiller district, owl, wolf, and forest district. Each one has different colors. Back in the day, the districts would fight each other. Nowadays, each neighborhood competes in a bi-annual horse race called the Palio race. Each district had its own colors flags throughout each street (so getting lost is almost impossible) and ornate streetlights also composed of the districts colors.
Siena grew in economic power in the 14th century under Medici...this is the famous bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena that gave employment and security to the citizens throughout the ages and the reason Siena became so prosperous.
We started off with a two hour tour of the city, where we learned at there are 17 different sections with names like the catapiller district, owl, wolf, and forest district. Each one has different colors. Back in the day, the districts would fight each other. Nowadays, each neighborhood competes in a bi-annual horse race called the Palio race. Each district had its own colors flags throughout each street (so getting lost is almost impossible) and ornate streetlights also composed of the districts colors.
The city was very small and quaint and filled with cute little boutiques and some popular stores also found in Florence. All the buildings were old and medieval..kind of how I imagine
Hogwarts would be if Harry Potter took place in Italy...is that a stretch? ;) The three main areas are the Piazza del Campo, Palazzo Pubblico, Duomo, and San Domenico. The Duomo was absolutely beautiful and very impressive.
Siena and Florence were always competing with each other throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The Duomo of Siena or as it is officially known, the Santa Maria Assunta Cathedral, was built in 1216. After it was completed, they started building an extension to be larger then the one in Florence. However, as soon as they started the Black Death hit Siena hard and their population was cut in half. The project was never completed and the remains, to anyone who doesnt know this detail, look like ruins of a pillaged village. The beautiful Duomo is very famous for its bell tower's blue and white strips made with different types of stone.
Lastly, we entered the Piazza del Campo, a huge Piazza boasting a beautiful Bell Tower, Mangia del Torre. What made the scene even more beautiful was the wedding taking place. The bride and groom in the tower looked down at all their guests as tourists took pictures. After the tour was over, Humai, Jenny and I sat in the Piazza with a delicious panini of tomatoes and mozzarella and people-watched. Then, it was time for shopping. Humai and I scouted out for some good clothing stores but had little luck..still cheesy sparkly clothing with strange cuts. We got a little lost but ended up seeing the entire city in and out and around. We found many artisan jewelry shops, handmade candle shops, porcelain stores, and plenty wineshops selling homemade wine from the Chianti. Nami and I deviously bought a small bottle for the bus...thinking we would be all classy drinking local wine as we rode through the Tuscan hills. Then we realized it wasnt very classy at all. We would just be American tourists on a school trip drinking wine in the back of a tour bus. Alas, before the idea was completely corked, I realized the bottle was corked anyway. By four o'clock we were exhausted and happily on the bus to home to Florence, speeding through the countryside...A place that now feels much more like "home." :)
