Us atop the duomo in Florence (after
still more stair-climbing)
On the Tuscany leg of our journey, we visited Florence by day and stayed in the hill town of Siena at night. We took the bus into Florence in the mornings, tooled around in the city, then returned to Siena for dinnertime and some evening strolling.
Tiffany in the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence |
The ceiling of the duomo in Florence |
The art in Florence was amazing -- just seeing Michaelangelo's David, as well as many of the paintings we'd seen so often in books, was quite an experience. Florence was much more than art, though -- it was also endless motor scooters, cell phones, shops, and crowded streets -- very much a city. We visited the museums, saw the doors of the Baptistry, walked the streets, climbed the duomo, and looked out on Florence's famous bridges and muddy brown water.
A view of Siena's Campo from the top of the tower |
Pigeons frolick in the fountain |
Meanwhile, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Siena. Less of a "town" than a small city (it was once Florence's arch rival, in the days of city-states, and has a duomo that matches Florence's in enormity and magnificence), Siena is a social hub -- a place with young people, loud noise, and a night life. Trendy shops line cobblestone streets. People greet each other heartily on the streets. There is a central area called Il Campo, a large brick oval where families gather, friends meet, children play and, twice a year, there are horse races between the once-warring families of Siena. Restaurants skirt Il Campo, and we ate at one of them every night, watching all the activity. Across the square, there is a tall, red brick clock tower, and every night at sunset it turned a lovely orange-red, against an amazing blue sky -- one of the most haunting images I have of the trip is the constantly changing colors of the tower and the sky as the sun set.
The duomo in Siena |
Siena's magnificent tower, against an ever-changing sky |
Lake Como
| Venice | Siena & Florence | Rome
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