Florence, Siena and Tuscany

Friday, July 14, 2006

History buffs will probably have a field day in Florence and Siena. They'll probably have another pointing out the inaccuracies in this post. I'll do some fact checking when I get back, but until then, comment away!

Florence and Siena had a bitter rivalry dating back to the Middle Ages. There is a long history of war between the two cities. The last major defeat to Florence, coupled with the aftermath of the Black Plague was too much for Siena to recover. Whereas Florence flourished, Siena languished. Without the benefit of the many rich families to subsidize further development, Siena was left trapped in the Middle Ages.

Nowadays, Florence is a bustling, vibrant city filled with kamikaze moped drivers and high end shops. It is home to an enormous collection of paintings, sculpture and architecture. The Renaissance started here, thanks to Florence's many rich families and guilds who commissioned works from the greats: Donatello, Botticelli, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo to name a few.


The architecture appeared to be a mish-mosh of medieval and Renaissance, with a sprinkling of Baroque. Renaissance influenced architecture seems to have won out though, as it appeared on most of the buildings we saw.

Our days in Florence were spent touring the city and its museums and churches, fitting in a two-hour lunch or dinner at a cafe when we could. Our vacillation between the two was a welcome way to break up our day and slow things down a bit. It also gave us a welcome respite from the oppressive heat (Florence is hot!)

Siena, on the other hand, is a sleepy hill-top medieval town. Its ancient brick buildings are almost all uniform in style and color, giving name to that famous "burnt" Crayon in your box of 64. Being on the top of a hill, we appreciated the breezes that made their way through the narrow, shady alleyways.


We saw most of the town in an afternoon, and began to wonder what else could be found there. Where was this bustling nightlife we'd heard about? There were no pubs to speak of, no clubs, and the famous Enoteca Italiana wine bar was bereft of patrons (save for us, of course). We headed for Piazza del Campo, the central town square, figuring that'd be as good a place as any to start. Surprisingly enough, the square was packed with people. Many were milling about aimlessly; others were sitting in the amphitheatre-like square as if waiting for a concert to start. There was no concert, of course, but many (people of all ages) had brought bottles of wine. It seems that you make your own nightlife in this sleepy tourist town. With no drinking age and no open container laws to speak of, it doesn't seem like a hard thing to do. Just add vino.

The next day, Beth and I took a trip to Tuscany to visit a couple wineries in the Chianti region. This country is absolutely beautiful. A Slovak we met mentioned that he'd wanted to visit this region since he got a book about Tuscany to see if the country was really as beautiful as the pictures in his book. He wasn't disappointed.

Siena was a nice transition from the frenzy that was Florence to Cinque Terre, a very sleepy collection of five towns along the Italian Riviera. After a couple more rail transfers (we're really starting to get the hang of this now) we'll be able to relax with a glass of the local vino in Vernazza. From what we hear, it should be a bit more temperate. If not, we could always take a dip in the Mediterranean!


Update: Added pictures!