Siena

Thursday, July 3, 2008

This morning we checked out of the hotel, had breakfast and boarded the bus to ISVEA, a research facility in Poggibonsi. We had several presentations and a tour of the facility in addition to a simple snack of sandwiches and focaccia bread. Afterwards Sherri finished her presentation from yesterday on Prohibition, which the foreign students were very interested in hearing about.

Next destination—Siena & the beautiful Tuscany. Last night we watched a crazy horse race on TV, and the importance of this race to the history of Siena became clear today. We are so fortunate to be staying in this city. We got our rooms and I took brief nap—for some reason I’m pretty tired. Feeling refreshed after the nap, Mark and I had some Limoncello and headed out to explore the city. We are completely free to explore the city on our own until we have dinner with the group at 8:30pm.

It turns out to be a great afternoon and evening. Mark and I run into Sherri, the professor from Cal Poly. We all are a bit hungry, so we get a slice of pizza that we can eat while we walk around. As it turns out our celebration from last night’s crazy horse race is just getting started. We see men of all ages dressed in brightly colored clothes and about a half an hour later we watch a parade begin that will still be going on at midnight.

We are amazed at the beauty of this city. The architecture, the alleys where shops and homes are tucked away are all captivating. There are no cars (at least not many) and people are either walking or riding scooters. It’s a pretty charged atmosphere. We find a great store where we buy some wine. The victory parade passes us again and we wonder about the pacifiers they’re all wearing around their necks. We cross paths with Rally who tells us about the cathedral, so we decide to try and find it. But first we find the giant piazza http://www.ilpalio.org/palioenglish.htm where the horse race (called the Palio) was run last night. It is breathtaking and huge. We feel so small walking through the center. It’s hard to imagine that the night prior a huge race had taken place here.

Moving on, and deciding to come back later, we walk up a few steep alleys and find our way to the cathedral, which again is beyond our ability to describe. We know that pictures won’t do it justice either. It is breathtaking. The funniest thing about the place is that its striped—we later learn its green and white, but to us right now it looks black and white, like a zebra. But that doesn’t reduce its beauty. Wow. We pay the $3 Euros to look inside and explore. Many famous artists have worked on this cathedral. The sculptures are all by Michelangelo, and we are amazed. We wonder how he found the time to do all that he did in his lifetime, but are glad to have the chance to see his work. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/siena-cathedral-duomo-di-santa-maria.htm

After the cathedral, we decide to head back to the square and have some beers while we take it all in. We pick a patio right across from the church and tower and just relax. The beers are good, the temperature is cooler due to the shade, and we’re all happy. Later some of the Cal Poly folks join us and we move on to do some more exploring. We see more beautiful streets, another passing of the parade, and see a few of the rival Contrada’s colors flying as they get ready to celebrate themselves. As we walk, we start seeing others from the group, and we realize it’s getting close to dinner time.

Our Italian Guide, Dr. Valeria Mazzoleni, introduces us to our host for the evening. We dine outside at a location within the Crontrada of the Turtle, della Tartuca d’Orto dei Tolomei. Our host is gracious and Mark and I sit with him at dinner—outside overlooking the Southern part of Siena—and ask a lot of questions about the history of Siena, the Contrada, and the Palio. We felt honored to have the opportunity to learn so much from him. What a beautiful night.