Day Trip to Siena

Just over an hour away by car is the city of Siena, population of around 50,000 people or about 6 times more than Massa Marittima. We were excited to visit, first because we had heard it was a lovely city and second to see if it felt like a place we might want to live.

Piazza del Campo

We started our day in the Piazza del Campo, which is where the city's famous horse races is held, the Palio. The entire city is divided into 17 Contrade, and each has a horse in the race. 


From here we went to the Museo Civico di Siena. Looks like a postage stamp, right? Andrea told us it was a popular photo for social media.


This is only one example of a sculpture of the Capitoline wolf. It depicts a scene from the legend of the founding of Rome. The she-wolf is suckling the twins, Romulus and Remus after they are thrown in the Tiber river. You will find the Capitoline wolf all over Italy. Ira has at least ten photos of different ones we've come across.

Photo of the ceiling


St. Catherine of Siena, born Caterina Benincasa. I put this in to remind me of a promise I made to Melissa to read her history. She was one of the most powerful women of her age with the ear of the pope.

After the museum, it was time for lunch at Mugolone. I put the link in here so we can easily find it and go again. All the pasta and the bread were made in-house. We each had an antipasto and a primo. Complimenti!

STARTERS

Cauliflower flan, pecorino fondue, cabbage

Black cabbage ribollita

FIRST

Pici with duck ragu

Tagliatelle, wild boar, chickpea cream


Next stop was the Duomo di Siena. A duomo, Andrea explained is not a dome or just a cathedral, but rather is the residence of the bishop. Dome in Italian is 'cupola'.


He also explained that Siena used to be so powerful and rich that after they built this, they decided to change the direction of the church and started to build the new front facade 90 degrees off.


Unfortunately, Siena lost 60% of it's citizens to the Plague and that was the end of that project. On the inside, Andrea and Melissa told us that the most beautiful part of the floor was covered and wouldn't be open until the summer. 

I thought the ceiling was pretty beautiful. I also took a picture of one of three organs that I saw. Melissa said they all work and are used during certain masses and most definitely at Christmas. They are so big, Ira wondered if you could hear and feel the sound. We are excited to come back and find out.


We ended our trip at Nannini, we had a few almond cookies after lunch and I wanted to get a few more for later. They were called Cantucci with Almonds and were crunchy bits of deliciousness! At the store they had 4 additional flavors, so naturally I bought a couple of each to try. These are also the cookies that you can dip into Vin Santo liqueur for dessert. To round out the dozen we picked up one almond and one almond with chocolate ricciarelli biscuits. The chocolate one tasted a little like a very soft version of a chocolate crinkle. Here is Grandma and Grandpa Sisson's recipe for Chocolate Crinkles.

Did I also mention the shopping is also great. I bought a handmade rainhat from the person who handmade it. I love that! We had a great day in Siena, but in the end we decided it was too big a city for us to live in, but we look forward to visiting often. 

Ciao per oggi!










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