Florence/ Siena

Cont. Florence:

We woke up on Sunday, being our last day, and had breakfast. I finally decided to try the orange juice, I tend to be a little skeptical of orange juice sometimes. It probably comes from the fact that I have been raise on Florida oranges. We left the hotel and headed to the train station to store out luggage for a while. Concluding that task, we set out to visit the Uffizi museum. My favorite painting from the whole of the Uffizi was The Venus of Urbino. This painting was done during the renaissance by Titian. It captures many of the classical renaissance techniques, and is simply lovely. The painting is balanced and the artist has a good understanding of proportions.

We then ate lunch at The Oil Shoppe, recommended by one of Hilary’s friends. This is a small sandwich place that seems to be the most popular spot for a quick sandwich among young people. We were running late to catch out train back so we ate on the go. We arrived at the train station just in time to hop on our train. Then there was time to relax and get ourselves collected. We arrived back in Sansepolcro late that night and I went straight to bed.

Siena:

We departed for Siena on February 27^th, Saturday. We took a bus that morning at 7am to Arezzo and then from Arezzo to Siena. The whole trip there took around 2.5 hours. Once we arrived in the city, Bekah directed us to get a city map. This is the only city I have been in where we had to pay for a city map, 50 centesimi. I will definitely be keeping it as a souvenir. Bekah then took us on a mini tour of the city, while leading up to the main Piazza del Campo. We learned the story of the Palio, the great horse race between the different areas of Siena. We were able to see all of the different flags and animals associated with the different sections of the city. The different areas are called Contrade. The Palio is held twice every year during the summer.

We decided to go to the Palazzo Pubblico first, since it was extremely close. Once inside, we were trying to buy our tickets and we realized that we could buy a combination ticket that would allow us to visit multiple places on one ticket. As I am sure you can assume, we went with that option. So the Pubblico was first on the list. The Pubblico is the town hall for the city of Siena. This palace was originally supposed to house the republican government of Siena.

The exterior of this building has many features that make it of distinctly gothic architecture. This is the tower of the government building, and then the church has a tower. The story is that Siena believes in the balance of power between the church and the state. So they each had towers constructed, and they seem to be the same height but that is all relative to where you are in the city. The bell tower on this building was originally constructed to be taller than the one in Siena’s rival city of Florence. For a long time, it was the tallest tower governmental. Inside the Pubblico there were many interesting things. It was filled with tons of frescos. My favorite art of the Pubblico was the balcony. On the balcony, you can see most of the city and it had absolutely picturesque views. This must be the place where postcard pictures are taken!

The next stop on our list is FOOD! We were getting quite hungry and decided to get something to eat. Kayley had visited Siena about 4 years ago and I quote “had the best gnocchi she had ever tasted,” as you can imagine that is where we had to go. Osteria Boccon del Prete was the name of the restaurant that we went to. I am not sure what I ordered exactly, but when it came out it was noodles and a meat sauce. I was very pleased. However, Kayley who couldn’t live without that wonderful gnocchi was exceedingly disappointed. We all informed her that there could have been a chef change or management change. It had been 4 years since she had been there. This invited fun conversation though. The restraint was nice, nothing exceptional, but still quaint.

After lunch we went to the Duomo Museum. We climbed the Duomo Nuovo, which was an extended wall of the nave that was never finished. The interior, which is not enclosed, is now a courtyard. The nave was supposed to be added to make this cathedral larger than the one in Florence and it would have been, had it been finished. Are you sensing a theme? Siena and Florence are always competing!

Next we took a peak in the Baptistery. It was not all that impressive to me, but the detail in it was incomparable.

After that we moseyed through the city, did some shopping and took our moments to be the master photographers. Later we made it back to catch our train. Upon arriving back in Arezzo, we grabbed something quick to eat at a restraint not far from the bus station and then caught the last bus back into Sansepolcro. Overall, I think the trip was AMAZING!!! It is always nice to be able to talk about something in a class and then see it for yourself. The same with pictures, they never seem to do the view justice.