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| My Beautiful Tuscan Home! |
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| Good Morning Tuscany! |
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| Piazza del Campo |
Everyone hangs out in the Piazza del Campo. While it is more touristy during the daytime, around lunch you will see it packed with high school students, and of course Friday and Saturday night, everyone is walking around in that general area. There is the Torre di Mangia, which you can go up and also has a museum and a theater. This is still on my Siena to-do list.
A funny thing about Italy is that from 1 to about 4, everything essentially closes. You’re on your lunch break, but then there is nothing to do but chill and eat your lunch. I’ve learned the Italians are very laid back and don’t stress; maybe that is why they live such a long time. Basically, I’m hoping by the end of this semester, I will be much more relaxed with this whole “forced to do nothing in the middle of the day”. Not that I can complain.
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| Torre di Mangia |
Tuesday, we visited the Santa Maria della Scalla, a very old hospital turned museum. It feels more like a castle than a hospital. The lowest level is the archaeology party, with all sorts of pottery and artifacts from Siena and other parts of Tuscany. In the upper level we walked through the large sale (plural of sala) with giant and elaborate frescoes painted on the walls and ceilings, telling the stories and goings-on of the hospital back in the day. Other rooms feature other giant paintings and frescoes that were just incredible. There was also a giant chapel for the hospital with all sorts of frescoes painted on the walls and ceilings.
Next to the museum is Il Duomo. Bellissimo. They hold mass on Sundays at 11. The tower part appears to be higher than the Torre di Mangia, but it isn’t. I do plan to go inside and up the tower still.
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| Il Duomo |
Every Wednesday in Siena is the big mercato, or market. Venders from all over Italy, Europe, and even Arabic countries bring all sorts of goods that you can haggle for. It is huge – I had no idea it would be so big. And with everything you could imagine – coats, clothing, house appliances, fruit and vegetables, shoes, purses, and more. We actually went to the mercato for class (which meant I had to write a short essay in Italian afterwards answering questions about it). So shopping and buying new scarves and a new pair of leather boots was class. I don’t hate it.
Don’t worry, my classes are not just shopping in the mercato or visiting museums or just walking around the city.
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| Gelato.... what's new |
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| Saturday night chillin in the Piazza |
I'm sure everyone is curious about the Siena night life. There are not any discotecas in Siena so you just take a bus to one of the 2 close ones, maybe about 20 minutes away. Apparently most of the university students here go Thursday (typical - always thirsty) and Fridays, while Saturday is very popular for the highschoolers (they have class on Saturday so they only get one real "weekend" night).
There are tons of bars in Siena, especially near the Piazza del Campo. One of the guys who works with our program took us around the town to show us good bars and pubs to go too. There are also wine bars and shots bars. We found this really awesome pub, but i'll have to get back to the name of it.
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| Goal: to become a wine connoisseur |
This past Saturday night was a Contrada Party. In Siena, it is divided into 17 Contradas, which are like districts. You can only be in a Contrada if you are born in that district, so some Sienese are even in different contradas from their parents. Every July and August, they have held the Palio di Siena, where they fill the Piazza del Campo with dirt and have a horse race through the city, each Contrada represented. When the Grand Duke of Tuscany outlawed bull fighting in 1590, they started having races between the Contrade on buffalo, then donkeys. The first modern Palio on horseback took place in 1656. It is one of the oldest still continued traditions of a city today.
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| Pub |
Back to the Contrada Party. It was the Onda Contrada (the Wave Contrada, their symbol the dolphin). They essentially turned their place (they all have a "headquarters" building) into a discoteca. It was awesome and so much fun. And they would even check your coats for you and there wasn't a cover charge. Pretty chill.
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| Contrada Party |
My bus back to my house stops running before nine, so I simply take a taxi back to my house. Very easy, and very safe. One of the great things about Siena is that it is a pretty safe place. So you can stop worrying AS much mom.