Siena, February 20, Heidi
I visited Siena for one day in 2008 while teaching the art class. Luisa, our tour guide, educated us on the history of the city. There was a competition with Florence for the most powerful city of the Renaissance. The Black Plague caused the population of Siena to drop from 42,000 to 14,000. The majestic cathedral was never finished, and Florence won out with its concentration of incredible art and access to water. Yet as a city, Siena is still a medieval walled masterpiece, high on mount with spectacular views of the Tuscan countryside. Its scale is fabulous for a traveler, as it is a city easily walkable in a day. Its pristine beauty is enchanting, and being there is like stepping back to 1000 AD.
Our drive from Vasto to Sienna was sublime. The vistas are a patchwork quilt of land separated by banks of cypress and orchards, the cerulean sky has clouds like heaven, and the terra cotta rooves catch the sunshine and glow like a tangerine – this was our spectacular transit.
However, our modern – day “plague” was driving into Siena. Our Bookings.com host never bothered to inform us that it is illegal to enter the city wall. Two hours of circuitous driving to find the underground public lot followed a narrow escape from the inner sanctum. People shaking fingers, taxis beeping, blinking signs warning of fines for those entering the walled city without a property owner’s pass. Again, the narrow passages with inches on each side, going into the center ville the wrong way, looping around and around with no relief – this is how we spent our early evening. GPS actually impeded our ability to find our way to the parking we had identified. It did not understand the “no-go” areas of the city. When we turned the way finding off and navigated by map, in the old fashioned way, we were able to find this large new underground parking garage. When we finally parked and entered one of the Arches in the wall to the city on foot, laden with bags, we ducked into the first restaurant we found, and had one of the best meals of our time in Italy. Of note was the wild boar ragu and fennel orange salad. And naturally, we were more than ready for some good red wine. Later we found out from Alex that it was her favorite when she lived there. Bad luck turned into good, as has been these case on this trip again and again.
So, this four days in Sienna was of special significance to me. Alex lived here during her junior year abroad, and I felt like I was walking in her shadow. The remarkable city center has a large, circular sloping area called the Campo. It is where the Palio de Siena is run. Alex hung out there and saw the race too. We hung out there too, drinking coffee and wine. Our apartment was close by and was eccentric: it sprawled two levels with several rooms, lavish and filled with books and antiques, but quite void of modern conveniences. There was not a comfortable place to sit, for instance. But the spirit of the place was in keeping with the city.
Long walks on the cobblestone streets, a hike around the periphery and a visit to the University of Siena where Alex went were all terrific. The weather was cool and dry for our stay. We hiked up to visit the magnificent cathedral, the Domo di Siena and were blown away by its ornamentation and paintings by Bernini and Pisano. We visited the church of Saint Catherine and saw her mummified hand and body. (Why does the Catholic church like body parts and relics? UGH!!!) We also found Alex’s apartment on a busy street with couture shops, gelato, and wine merchants. If you squinted you could almost see the gentry in their finery and peasants in their course vestments moving about the streets. We stopped to listen to a guy playing an accordion. The churches and the buildings were flying the flags of the seventeen Contrade (districts with medieval neighborhood mascot images). Our last meal was served by the owner / chef of a small restaurant on a side street. It was sublime. I will admit that I ate a rabbit.
