Diary of a Fat Cat: A Drive through Tuscany

After dropping my mom and sister off at the airport, J and I drove north towards Florence. On the way, we drove through rural roads in Tuscany, stopping to take pictures of sunflower fields and soak up the scenery. Olive groves, vineyards, sunflower fields, and other crops on the rolling hills created a highly textural landscape, with the different shades of green and planting patterns. The drive was really lovely, and it led to two really special towns.

First Stop: Siena

J read about Siena in a Rick Steve's guide to Italy, so we decided to take a look on our way to Florence. Many of the buildings are a warm reddish brown, much like the crayon color, sienna. Later when I read more about the color, I found out that the iron oxide found in the hills of Tuscany is one of the primary pigments for sienna and that this color was produced primarily in Siena during the Renaissance.

As we walked into the city from the parking lot, we noticed long feasting tables lining the narrow roads and blue flags with a golden fish waving in the breeze overhead. Since we had never been to Siena before, we assumed it was just the leftovers of a local festival or wedding.

But it turned out that we had missed the famous biannual bareback horse race around the town square by one day! When we reached the town square, the dirt track and stands were still up, and the deep impressions of horses' hooves were still visible in the dirt.

I can only imagine being at this crazy race! Standing outside shops, we watched videos of the previous day's race. Several riders lost their seats, and the competition was fierce.

We later learned that the Palio di Siena has been run since medieval times. The city is divided into 17 different contrade, or wards, 10 of which have a horse and rider in the race. Each ward has its own colors, animal, and flag, and each horse and rider wear the ward colors.

The ward divisions aren't regular and the map is difficult to decipher, but it's easy to tell when you have walked into a different ward by the lamps bearing the ward colors and animal.

the boundary between Tartuca, the tortoise, and Onda, the wave

The winning ward puts up its flag and has bragging rights until the next race in July. This year, Onda (the wave) ward won, and so its blue and white flag and golden fish symbol were all over the city. I wished I had known about the race beforehand so we could have made a stop with Mom and Emma!

the winning horse! after the race, the winner rides into a church to be blessed by a priest

The crazy horse race and town rivalries aren't the only things that made Siena a really interesting stop. The Siena Cathedral is one of the most joyful-looking churches I have ever visited. The striped tower outside of the church gives a clue to its interior, and the front facade is light, delicate, and lovely.

But the black-and-white striped interior is really what made me smile.

Although construction of the Siena Cathedral began about the same time as the construction of the Kölner Dom (early to mid-1200s), the two cathedrals couldn't be more different. Imagine architects dreaming up these two very different masterpieces in the Middle Ages...incredible! We saw similar stripes on the Florence Cathedral, but it just didn't quiet measure up to the Siena Cathedral. In addition to the cheerful zebra-like interior, it also includes a small library with beautiful murals and illuminated texts.

I left Siena with a big smile. Maybe someday we can go back to see the race in person :)

Next Stop: San Gimignano

Our next stop on the way to Florence was the town of San Gimignano, also known as the City of Towers or Medieval Manhatten. It's high on a hill overlooking the Tuscan countryside, with tall medieval towers rising from the center. Rick Steve's has a nice little 3 minute mini-tour here if you want to see a better view of the city from a distance.

Merchant families informally competed to build the highest tower, and the town is one of the better preserved examples of this type of medieval architecture. We got some world champion gelato and wandered down the streets, peeking inside shops and listening to other tourists' chatter. We didn't hear any English, but we heard a lot of French, German, and of course Italian. We decided that this must be where auto-equipped 'locals' come when they visit Italy! Before heading north to Florence, we stopped outside the city walls to take in the view.