Siena

Siena is a beautiful city and for centuries dominated this region of Italy, engaging in ferocious battles with the city of Florence. Siena was my introduction to Italy as it is where my mother and I stayed for 10 days on our tour this past September. Our hotel, the Hotel Garden, had a beautiful terrace with a panoramic view of Siena’s skyline. We developed a habit of visiting the bar terrace to have a drink, white wine for her and caffe’ latte for me, every afternoon while soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying that fabulous view. It was time for me to return to where it all began.

I took a different road out of Cortona today, and found myself behind a Geriatric driving an Ape (ah-pay), that miniscule three-wheeled vehicle with a flat bed for carrying loads in the back. The Old Coot was tearing up the pavement at a blistering 7.85 kilometers per hour and I was unable to pass due to traffic coming from the other direction. I noticed with some alarm that his rear wheels were positioned at a severe angle which could explain his driving with such caution. Perhaps his axle was broken and tied together with a long strand of spaghetti.

An Italian would not have been deterred from passing due to oncoming traffic, in fact they would see that as a challenge to be accepted and won. It matters not that there is a stopped car in front of me and he can go nowhere, an Italian feels a moral obligation to pass my vehicle. A nattily dressed fellow in his BMW passed me today, and then stayed in the left-hand lane. I held my breath and prayed he would move back into his lane before he reached the blind curve a short distance ahead. My nerves can only take so much!

After a few wrong turns once I reached Siena, I was able to locate and park at the Fortezza di Medicea, the Medici Fortress, where the popular Wednesday market is held. The market is where I bought a fantastic purse with adjustable handles that I have just about worn out. I walked into town and stopped at a bookstore to purchase a couple of bestsellers as I am in need of fresh reading material. I also purchased some wonderful tri-fold cards. The top page has a decorative window frame with the window being a cut out opening, through which a scene printed on the middle page of the card can be viewed. They were $9 each, but I could not resist three of them, one of them the Palazzo Pubblico and Le Scale, the steps, in my very own Cortona! Another is the Duomo in Siena and the third is a generic Italian scene.

The highlight of the day was my return to the Duomo which is breathtakingly beautiful and ornately decorated in celebration of the God’s glory. The floor is made up of colored mosaics and the walls and pillars are made up of alternating strips of black and white marble. When I am inside the Duomo I never notice the fact that is looks rather like a zebra’s stripes, but pictures really make the eye focus on this fact. I took some wonderful pictures of the inside of the dome and of the two round stained glass windows, one on either end of the cathedral. The only thing I dislike is that the church has veritable hordes of visitors, including large groups getting guided tours, which made it difficult for me to feel a connection to the Divine, so I will save my praying for La Santa in Cortona.

I ate a lunch of penne pasta with sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms, and cream at an outdoor café at Il Campo, the enormous piazza where the famous Palio horse race dating back to the Middle Ages is run twice a year in July and August. The walls of the buildings surrounding the piazza are padded and a dirt track is laid around the perimeter on which bareback riders and their steeds race at breakneck speed. The city is divided into 17 neighborhoods called contrade and 10 of these neighborhoods are able to compete in each race. The horses are selected by a drawing and the horse who crosses the finish line first wins, whether or not his rider is still attached! There is absolute madness from the residents of Siena for the Palio and bets, bribes, and foul play are common place. Once the horses have been drawn, each contrade posts ‘round the clock guards to protect the valuable steed, and each animal is taken inside their contrada’s church for a blessing before each race.

It was a long day with much walking and I was looking forward to reaching home for a nap. As soon as I began the ascent up Cortona’s great hill, the Old Codger in the Ape appeared in front of me sputtering along at a snail’s pace. A three-toed sloth has nothing on this guy! He’s violated the Law of Motion by being able to go that slowly and still maintain forward movement. I fought the urge to get out and push him up the hill. He must spend the weekend driving up and down Cortona’s hill holding up traffic. Perhaps he’s being employed by Cortona’s new “You Can’t Leave Cortona until You’ve Left All Your Money” economic stimulus plan to make it impossible for people to actually depart the city until their wallets are completely flat. If so, he’s doing a very good job!