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| Winning Clan outside the Duomo |
Our borrowed bikes whizzed down the cool morning streets of Florence and our noses were assaulted with whiffs of fresh-out-of-the-oven pastries. With bus tickets in our sweaty little hands we locked up our bikes and boarded the bus heading into the central depths of Tuscany's wine region.
Surrounded by a vast green hilly landscape, the older medieval hilltop town of Siena is Florence's long time rival and our first stop. With a history so deep it's almost unfathomable, steeped in legends and ancient fables Siena is fascinating. The story runs that Siena was founded by one of the sons of Rome's mythical founding twins (Remus and Romulus), who fearing his life fled here, but before hitting the road stole a statue from the Temple of Apollo of a she wolf feeding the twins. The statue has become a symbol of the city, however Siena may have also been founded much further back with evidence of Etruscan history in the area.
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| Piazza Salimbeni |
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| She wolf feeding the twins |
Overwhelmed, we didn't know where to start! Like all tourist information centres in Italy you're lucky to stumble on them, so we just followed everyone else. Down what seemed to be the main road we arrived into the heart of the central piazza: II Campo. Something smelt horsey here, not surprising for the day prior was the biannual Palio horse racing! Immediately we felt the town's ambience. Old patriotic contrada (clan) flags hung over decaying wooden doors all mixed up with the horsey smell. Unusual iron dragons stared down on us from linked collars off the corners of buildings and coats of arms sat on top of the old doors. From the II Campo we were thrust in full tourist onslaught back into the shaded streets.
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| Piazza del campo |
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| Home of the dragon contrade |
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| Looking towards Torre del Mangia |
Like for many Italian towns, the contrada quarters are more important for the locals than the town as a whole (like how many Catalans in Barcelona don't see themselves as part of Spain). They are the place where the people have their roots and family ties, their friends and their neighbours. Siena has 17 contrade and each contrada is identified with a specific symbol from a snail, seashell, dragon, unicorn etc. Originally they were the neighbourhoods where specific craftsmen did their trade. Different contrade ally with each other and still today are fiercely competitive. Each contrada has a patron saint, coat of arms, motto, a community house, their own fountain and a church. Throughout the day as we walked around we could see as we passed into different contrada, because many houses have their symbol on the wall or at the letterboxes or little animals in the windows. Nothing emphasised this more as we were suddenly swept up into a parade of men in pale leather shoes wearing tight coloured woollen leggings, medieval blouses waving huge green, orange and yellow flags and well.... happily sucking on dummies? Actually in the parade, not kidding, it was at last moment we were like wait, what's actually happening.
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| Amazing front doors! |
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| Many of the clan flags |
When we did eventually find the tourist centre right at the centre of town next to the grand Duomo Cathedral they told us the Selva contrada were celebrating their Palio win! Dressed in their wares the contrada renowned for being excellent archers and weavers, waved flags of a rhinoceros under an oak tree. The dummies symbolise the birth or rebirth of the contrada. With all the medieval costumes, it was kind of one of those pinch yourself moments, are we really in the 21st century today? After all the action we stopped at an Enoteca for a glass of wine. Whew! Our plan was then to locate this lookout we had seen from the bus as we drove in. Walking...walking... walking. No look out. Frustrated, hot and annoyed we returned to the bus station.
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| The view from the lookout we never reached |
BUT here's a photo of what we should have been able to see if we were able to find it. We had to include this because of the uttermost frustration of not finding the lookout.
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| Tuscany countryside |
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| Villages dotted in the hills |
Our next bus took us through the great rolling hills of Chianti country, beckoning and calling us with sights of sandy coloured picturesque villages, high on the green vine-strewn hills. Striking terracotta roofed country manors and castles dotted over the landscape. Like something from a postcard we were envious of those with hire cars that could stop when they wanted! For on the bus we could actually see the dark purple grapes hanging off the vines!
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| Right outside Porta San Matteo |
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| Flags on the wine museum |
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| Tuscany to the South |
Our next destination of the day was the ancient walled hill-top city of San Gimignano.
Just beyond Chianti region this 'Medieval Manhattan' houses several towering structures which like modern day skyscrapers were once signs of economic wealth and power by the ruling families (similar to those we saw in Bologna!).
Our bus dropped us off right at the Northern city gate, Porta San Matteo and immediately we were staring straight into a wine shop! Hehe! Local wines here focus on the white grape of Vernaccia, a light straw coloured wine, oaked, acidic and fruity. Up Via San Matteo wine tasting rooms one after another allured us in offering tastings of local Vernaccia and Chianti varietals from the neighbouring province with staff far drunker than your average Italian youth. Oh yes please!
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| Down into Piazza Duomo |
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| View North from the Torri Salvucci Maggiore |
In the centre of the city, Piazza Duomo, we got an amazing view of both the gothic buildings and out across the region from up the Torre Salvucci Maggiore. This privately owned hotel/tower once belonged to the dynasty of the Salvucci, one of the wealthiest families in the city who grew from trading textiles and spices. Everything in the tower was designed to guard against the enemy, and used to demonstrate their prosperity and power. Today, it's been transformed into a functional living area spread over 11 floors and as you climb the candle-lit, iron staircase you walk through each tiny room. It's a great concept and quite quirky but imaging climbing 9 floors every time you want a cup of tea could get tiresome!
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| Piazza della Cisterna |
Taking in a big breath at the top you can see over the city and most of the 14 remaining towers from the once over seventy. Immediately next door, John suggested 'jumping distance', is also another family tower of the Salvucci's built because ideally IF they could be superimposed the family would have the tallest tower. After visiting the tower we explored the Museum of wine and read up about the old popes who (read alcoholic) enjoyed the wine a little too much and read something about the ruling 'seat of nine'. But we will need to google that a bit more.
After all the reading we got a delicious slice of pizza to nibble at a pizzeria just outside the city's southern wall. San Gimignano was fantastic and had that really old lived-in and not so touristic feel.
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| Pizza stop! |
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John waiting for ice-cream,
Piazza della Cisterna |
In the Piazza della Cisterna the most beautiful triangular shaped square of the town we joined a horde of people queuing for 'Tuscany's best gelato 2015'. Here our two flavours were; John: the chocolate and the award winning Creme di Santa fina (saffron and pine nuts) and Kara got the white chocolate, pumpkin seed oil and cookies combination with the pink grapefruit and sparkling wine. Of course, omg, they were all to die for!
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| Looking down a side road |
In the city there are a lot of things to see, we found three torture museums, galleries, clock towers and handfuls of churches.
We won't lie, we were pretty churched out by now and gave them all a miss but looking for a toilet we ventured into a ornithological (fancy word for zoology) museum with a huge collection of stuffed birds run by the Panciatichi family, which was inside of the Church of Saint Francesco.
By the time our bus arrived it was already late and we were ready to head back, content, drowsy and ready to open our wine.
Tot siens,
John and Kara
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| A nibble of tomato Bruschetta |
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| Walking up the main street |
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