Siena and San Gimignano

2/6/15

Day 21

We woke up way too early and went to meet our group at the train station. From there, we got on busses. I was careful not to complain too loudly about anything because this trip was built into the program cost and therefore free to go on today. I slept most of the drive to Siena and from what I do remember, it was snowy and looked magical.

When we arrived though, half of me just wanted to stay on the warm bus where I could sleep. In our huge group, the leaders would step on the snow and turn it into a wet, muddy mush. I was one of the lucky few not wearing sneakers whose feet never stood a chance. We got into groups with a tour guide and it was a different experience from Bologna or Rome where we would just wander. 

We started in the church and I soon knew more than I ever thought I would about Siena. First of all, to be considered a basilica, a church needed to have a relic- or some body part of a saint. Saint Catherine died in Rome but somehow Basilica Cateriniana had her head and her thumb in little creepy cases. Our guide told us that churches used to buy relics to draw pilgrims. But also, there was no way to DNA test the bones to see if they were authentic, so they relied on the faith of the people. There seem to be a lot of flaws with that arrangement. Any idiot could probably figure out how to get his hands on a corpse and sell off body parts one by one. Side note: it doesn't really sound like a whole lot of fun to be a saint if after you die people derive pleasure from chopping you up. 

Siena has its own Duomo, so we took a tour of that. It was nothing short of impressive.

Even the floor had marble artwork.

Parts of it were made of the same striped white and green as the Florence Baptistry and other buildings nearby, mainly because the white Carrara marble came from Tuscany.

Off to the side, the family even had a private library added. Old choir books lined the shelves. 

More fun facts from today: 

-San Gimignano has been proven to have the best gelato in the world (they won the world championship)

-the Piazza del Campo is shaped like a shell with scalloped edges

-when Florence conquered Siena, they cut down all the towers except the one by Piazza del Campo, but somehow San Gimignano still had its towers

-old fashioned glue was made from bones

-one of the only times rich girls could flirt was at church

-the dresses in fashion were intentionally fluffy to hide pregnancy 

-there were a lot of babies in orphanages

It sounds like the Italians from Siena were not as Catholic as they'd like you to think.

I also got punched by a pigeon in Siena. We went to try this thing (rice fried inside wheat and sprinkled with sugar from Frittelle Savelli)

and as we walked through a crowd of people eating them, a bunch of pigeons flew past. Usually, pigeons are in control of their bodies enough to scare you but not actually touch you. These were stupid pigeons and actually collided with my leg and my friend's face. 

Up until San Gimignano, Florence was by far my favorite town. But San Gimignano was really cool. I think what I like about it was that it looked like what I expected a "medieval town in Italy" to look like- aka the buildings were still stone on the outside.

In Florence, I think they've all been whitewashed, and it doesn't feel like they have as much history. On top of that, San Gimignano has a lot of tunnels and different levels which was really exciting to explore.

And then there was the view! :)

Leaving Siena and San Gimignano, I had two regrets: first, I missed the shot that made me want to come to Siena in the first place!

(My other attempt is at the beginning of this post) Second, I really wanted to try San Gimignano's world class ice cream... and guess what? It was closed. Now I feel like I might need to come back...