What a joy-being able to spend a day doing nothing except what you want to! This is the first time we have done absolutely nothing on a trip! NOTHING! Just read, wrote postcards, had an easy lunch, an aperitivo. And then, IT happened! For those of you who read our first blog, you may remember that upon our departure from Cosona, we included a photo of leaving our friends, the sheep. As we left, they came to say goodbye in the field below us. Today, they came back to greet us and totally surrounded our agriturismo apartment!! Literally, they surrounded the building! There must have been a few hundred in total, along with the sheep dog directing operations. It was hilarious! When we first arrived here we remarked that the Cosona family appeared to have been paying more attention to the shrubbery, keeping it properly pruned. WRONG! Our welcoming committee of sheep quickly mowed down most everything except the rosemary and the sage. Since the field below our apartment is freshly plowed, awaiting the planting of winter wheat, they either decided that the meals were better here or they really, really missed us! We prefer to believe they just missed us! Shortly afterward, a huge thunderstorm moved in with very heavy rain and hail. We were so relieved not to be out driving or sightseeing. It made everything a little more cozy! You may not hear anything for a while, as this is the place where we completely shut down. What vacation means.
Well we ventured out after a day of rest. Unlike our last visit to Tuscany, we decided it was time to see Siena. Not a completely simple task since pretty much all of the city is in a ZTL. But we finally figured out how to enter a parking garage that was reasonably close, actually inside the old city walls. In case I haven’t mentioned it before, ZTL’s are very stressful!
Once parked we made the walk to Il Campo, the most unique piazza that we have ever seen. It was constructed as an amphitheater with city hall on a side and the merchant buildings and restaurants fronting the rest of the square. It has been described as Siena’s living room. That description seems accurate with people lounging on the bricks everywhere! Anyone who uses a crayola, knows the color “burnt Sienna” and it certainly is! The most interesting thing, regarding the piazza, is that the famous Palio horse races are held here every summer. This is a competition between a selected ten of Siena’s seventeen neighborhoods. Apparently 60,000 people are crowded onto the square to observe what is a no-holds-barred medieval moment. The race is three circuits of the piazza, approximately one kilometer. The winning neighborhood-contrada (cohn-TRA-da)- apparently goes berserk. Sigh, we wish we here to see it. Next time!
While there are many sights in Siena, the two that most intrigued us was the Il Campo and the Duomo. This church reminds me of the Duomo in Orvieto-which is my all time favorite-but is definitely in the top 5. The outside is magnificent in white and green striped marble-as are the multitude of pillars inside. The current structure was started in 1215 and was under construction and artistic decoration for over 300 years. There are enough Renaissance paintings and statues to house a museum. Michelangelo, Bernini, Donatello, Nicola Pisano (the Giotto of sculpture), Duccio, to name but a few. Every piece in the Duomo was one artists centerpiece.We have seen a multitude of beautiful churches and each one has had one outstanding feature. The feature of this Duomo was the incredible marble floors! I have never seen anything like them-anywhere! For nearly 200 years, artists paved the floors with scenes from the Old Testament and allegories. It was difficult to pay homage to so many of the famous artists who's work was all around us. There is much more of Siena to visit, but for a first time we saw exactly what we needed to see!
Ah, Orvieto! A favorite of hill towns! The scenery from below, driving up and inside the town is quite dramatic. Tuscany is justifiably famous for its hill towns, this one, however, is in Umbria. The town sits a thousand feet above the valley floor, majestically rising on its tufo throne. Tufo is a light tannish-yellow colored volcanic rock. It is soft enough to carve out caves and to make dwellings and then hardens after exposure to air. Many hill towns (including Rome and its famous landmarks) are on tufo. Orvieto is my favorite not only for the beauty of the Duomo and the town, but because of its Etruscan heritage. Thousands of years ago, the Etruscans began building hill towns-for protection. It is said that the first king of Rome was an Etruscan. They were, in part, responsible for teaching the Romans the terracing of wheat and vineyards. More on the Etruscans later. This was our 2nd time in Orvieto. Rather than driving up like last time, we took the funicular. Fast and easy-not the hair raising twists and turns of streets not built for cars!! Since we had pretty much seen and done everything last time, we just went to the Duomo, had lunch, saw an Etruscan temple ruin and fort and went ceramic shopping. Orvieto is famous for its ceramics. You can see/buy ceramics most everywhere in Italy. If you look at the label, it will say Orvieto. Just can’t say enough! If Italy is in your future, this hill town is a must!!
Bowen was absolutely brilliant-for a change-yesterday (ieri). We wanted to stay close to Cosona, but visit some wineries in Montalcino. But through his use of Google Maps he saw that there were a few out of the way wineries shown with links to their websites. So with much bravery, he called a couple of them in the morning. Of course none of the answering parties spoke English. But, the accomplished Italian speaker that Bowen is, he was able to communicate well enough to set up an appointment for an afternoon tasting at one of them. When we showed up for the aforementioned appointment no one answered the door. However, the winery next door let us in for a tasting of their excellent vino. After we had purchased a few bottles of their wine we encountered the original winery as we were leaving. (They were literally on top of one another). So we had yet another (and originally scheduled) tasting. As it turns out, both wineries are related (from the same family) but do not get along. We think that the first winery poached us from the second. After two tastings it’s a good thing that Toscana roads are so curvy. Otherwise someone might have thought that we had drunk too much vino!! We are so elated to be in the Crete Senesi (CRAY-tay-see-Nay-say), again! The panoramas in every direction-reminds us of the Palouse in eastern Washington.
Our Friend Welcoming Us Back
Il Campo
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