Well, after a brief (and rather uncalled for) hiatus, I'm back on Blogspot and ready to talk Italy!
I'll work on catching up with adventures from the past month, but let's start with this past weekend. The group and I went on a lovely bike tour through the southern portion of the province of Siena. After a brutal wakeup at 6:30 am on Saturday morning, we were on the bus by 7:50 and on our way to the little town of Rosia, 30 minutes from Siena. Rosia is small and rural, with less of the medieval-castle feel that characterizes Siena, and was our starting-off point. Led by a small, nimble old man/biking master (wearing very tight bike pants), we rode down a small highway (terrifying, thanks to the little Fiats and Piaggio trucks zipping by) and made it to a smaller, safer dirt road through scenic farmland. This was new territory; it's hard to get up close and personal with the heart of the Tuscan landscape if you stick to the more well-known cities, and public transportation runs infrequently to these spots. But here are the rolling fields of rusty earth and meadows filled with yellow flowers, here are the farmhouses and roads lined with red poppies. We made a detour (sadly, uphill) to the hamlet of Torri. I couldn't believe this could be considered a town. It was maybe one twelfth the size of Siena, just a couple of streets leading up to the main attraction, the Cloister and Abbey of Santa Mustiola. This structure was intriguing, it's a square building with a big inner courtyard, with each level supported by Sienese-style black and white striped columns. Its tiny balcony overlooked a sweeping valley outside the medieval walls of the miniature town. Then it was back to the road, where we eventually made it to a pretty picnic spot by a stream (possibly in the little town Stigliano?). When we got back to Rosia, we had covered a solid 28 km, which through visually enticing, did not please my butt very much. Words of advice: think twice before biking for three hours straight if you're not an avid biker.
Spent a leisurely Sunday back in Siena. After navigating through the swarms of tourists that now crowd the Campo, and getting my giant slice of pizza after waiting for MORE tourists to shout their orders, in English, at the harried server, I made my way out of the frenzy to quieter territory beyond the Piazza. Here, I made a pleasant discovery: Siena's Sunday antique market! The Piazza del Mercato, located directly behind the Palazzo Pubblico, was full of life and brimming with goodies. Usually quiet and uninhabited, vendors were everywhere selling everything from old books to vintage Gucci bags to ancient skeleton keys. Delightful! I had such fun browsing the tables and making some purchases for friends and family back home (in addition to scoring an adorable fish necklace handmade by a woman from Prato!). I continued on to the Orto di Pecci, a quiet pasture off the beaten path. A little family restaurant is hidden back here, along with a pen containing a sweet miniature donkey, a turkey, a bunch of goats, and some chickens. Locals come down to play soccer, picnic, and possibly explore the medieval kitchen garden that has been there for hundreds of years. Perfect place for reading and working on my tan. I got thrown out at 4 (who closes a garden/park at 4 pm??), so after a consolatory gelato, I made my way to San Domenico, one of the massive churches of Siena. San Domenico was Dominican central back in the 1300s, where the Catholic order preached their views on the importance of knowledge and education (they contrasted with the simplistic values of the Franciscan order). The best part is that this is the location of Santa Caterina's vision of her marriage to Christ, so one end has been converted into a chapel dedicated to her in the spot where she supposedly had her vision. Also, you can see the relics of her right thumb and head (yes! her head!!) displayed prominently in glass cases. Santa Caterina lived in Siena until her death in 1380, and was respected as the first woman doctor/theologian of the Church. Pretty great stuff.
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