A last picture from Tuscany, taken from the hilltop of Montepulciano. The light wasn't great, I admit, but you get what you get. Vineyards and olive groves cover much of the valley.
Lots of local events starting this weekend, which we should see starting Sunday.
Pienza is a smaller Tuscan hill town. An event was going on when we visited but we didn't understand what it was about. Some people were dressed in Renaissance clothing. A group of young people stood in front of the church with trained birds of prey. This owl was spectacular. We have never seen anything like it.
Il Campo, the central plaza of Siena. It was paved with brick in 1347 and divided by marble strips to create a shell shape. The major buildings in the center-right are the Torre di Mangia and Palazzo Pubblico.
We visited the civic museum in the Palazzo Pubblico, whose courtyard was in yesterday's post. A couple of floors up there were windows looking southeast across the city to the valley below. The view gives some idea of how steep and high the climb is from the parking lots at the base. The church is the Basilica of San Clemente in Santa Maria dei Servi, https://tinyurl.com/mu9xm24 . We had not heard of it until I did some research to identify it in this photo. The outside is plain but the interior is spectacular. We wish we had gotten there.
The very center of the old city of Siena is the fan-shaped plaza known as Il Campo, or The Field (even though it is paved). It slopes downward from the curve of the fan to a center point at the Palazzo Pubblico and the famous Torre del Mangia. The palazzo contains the civic museum, which is worth a visit. The entrance courtyard is open to the sky, making for a dramatic view.
I have not gotten back out on the street since we returned from our travels. There is a lot going on over the coming weekend to fill my memory cards but for now we remain in Italy. Bologna has a unique feature in the old city center, block after block after block of sidewalks covered with porticos. Some are arched, some are flat but, besides the beautiful sight lines, they offer protection for rain and sun when out about your business. No enclosed shopping malls needed.
Our home away from home in the hills on the edge of Siena. The beautiful, musically Italian name means something like scatter your cares and thoughts. It is a 19th Century manor house turned into a boutique hotel. We stayed there perhaps 25 years ago. Fond memories brought us back.
We spent six nights there, going into the city and taking day trips around Tuscany. The staff, all of whom spoke excellent English, could not have been more helpful and friendly. The restaurant is a wow. The value for Americans was very good because of the current favorable exchange rate (1€ = US$1.06). If you find yourself going to Siena you should check it out.
Still in the Bologna cathedral pending getting back out on the street at home. We have been in a lot of big churches but the rhythm of shape and space, the theme and variations, in this one particularly impressed us.
St. Petronius, the patron saint of Bologna, was bishop of the city in the mid-5th Century. Details of his life are a bit sketchy. The enormous cathedral seen in recent days is dedicated to him. His statue looms over the central piazza, where a tennis exhibition was taking place. I don't think his blessing helped anybody's shots.
While we were visiting the Bologna cathedral, we heard a beautiful baritone voice singing a hymn. I thought a service of some kind had started, but when I turned I saw this. A man in a tee shirt, presumably a tourist, stood before the sanctuary and performed a sacred song in a powerful voice. I don't know if he was part of a tour group and I certainly don't know what inspired him. Perhaps it was the space itself.
It's hard to see in this picture but his shirt says Born To Be Wild. Chose your own definition.
This view makes me think of how the vault of the Bologna cathedral is held together. It seems to be laced up securely.
Profiles in excess tourism in Florence. The subjects of the double portraits are said to be the Duke and Duchess of Urbino circa 1475, but the dates of marriage, death and ascension to to the dukedom make that impossible (interesting history and analysis of the art at https://tinyurl.com/2vvt3tdu). The museum was so crowded it wore down our old bodies. I really wanted to see the Caravaggios but we had to get out of the herd.
Oh, and the Duomo was closed.
Home now, a day late. The flight from London to Chicago was way behind schedule and, until you have flown on an A380, you have no idea how very long it takes to get 460 passengers' luggage onto the carousel. Spent the night at an airport hotel and arrived home yesterday.
We will have to look at pictures of Italy for a bit, not too much of a hardship. This is a view from the nave of the Siena Duomo looking toward the altar seen in Friday's post. I get a sense of the enormity, solemnity and overstated grandeur of the place.
The nave of the Siena Duomo. I know something about Western art history but I'm no expert. Something here is sliding between the baroque and rococo but I couldn't define where the line falls. In any event, the visual effects are overwhelming. The church construction was begun in the 13th and 14th Centuries, and it is mind-boggling to consider the architectural and engineering skill. The decoration developed over the following centuries. It is impossible for even an interested tourist to take it all in.
As mentioned, lots of flying today. May get some photo editing done on the long London - Chicago segment but I don't know when I'll get my next post up.
Last day of leg wearying, joint aching tourism. We do okay walking around on vacation but Tuscany is full of settled mini-mountains, built that way, I suppose, for defensive purposes. 10,500 step day yesterday, which may be a modern personal record. What the health app on my phone does not record without consulting the altimeter is the hill climbing, many days 300 - 400 feet / 90 - 120 meters. We've had enough.
On our final day here we visited the Siena Duomo, which is an architectural and artistic spectacle. The central dome over the nave invites visitors with a supple enough neck to contemplate heaven. I got the shot because my camera has an articulating LED screen.
Drive back to Bologna today and spend the night at an airport hotel. Tomorrow it's BLQ - LHR - ORD - STL, 11 hours of flying and 5 hours of airport transfers, gods of the air willing. We are ready to go home.
Day trip to Florence yesterday. I'll spare you the details of how bad a job Google Maps did on the tiny, twisted streets of the city center and how lost we got just trying to find parking. Anyway, I really wanted to go to the Galleria degli Ufizzi.It was as crowded as the Louvre in mid-summer or the Metropolitan in New York during Christmas week. Arguably not worth the effort.
I remember the other time I saw Botticelli's Birth of Venus here, perhaps 25 years ago. I don't remember the season but the place wasn't crowded. I stood in rapture for a long time in front of this work until a guard jabbered at me in Italian because an Asian tour group couldn't see through/around tall me. At some point this gets so tiring that I can't absorb any more.
Apologies to Frances Mayes' wonderful book, but we have been driving around Tuscany for a couple of days looking for the quintessential view and the light has been just dreadful. Dull, hazy, formless. The landscape shots I took are unusable. After climbing uphill about 125 meters from the parking lot to to the central piazza in Montepulciano, I had to satisfy myself with some strange entertainment. A German video crew had these two young women race around a corner and then collapse. I couldn't make any sense of it. The tourist sitting on a bench wasn't interested at all.
Seen in the small Tuscan hill town of Pienza. Must be the original Model 1.
Didn't make it that far yesterday, with the effect of warm, humid weather and lots of hills on old muscles and joints. Will try for Montalcino and Montepulciano today. Had some fabulous Nobile di Montepulciano with dinner last night. Tuscan cuisine is not for the faint of heart.
Okay, admit it. We are old. Pretty healthy but not in top physical condition. We did well enough in Bologna, which is flat, but Siena is all hills. 10,000 steps today, up and down, a lot for me, and my legs feel like putty. Not quite like this when we got back to the hotel (he is obviously young and strong, but maybe having a bad day) but it's got us thinking about maybe river cruises for future travel.
This was found in the Museo Civico on Il Campo, the central public space of Siena. We could not find anything to explain it. I'd share some of my naproxen with him. We plan an easier day today, driving toward Montepulciano and Orvieto. Might buy some wine.
Two hour drive today from Bologna to Siena, braving the speed demons of the autostrada. We are staying in a place we were perhaps 20 years ago in an 18th Century mansion, the Villa Sacciapensiere, on the hills north of the city. This is the view just before sunset from one of the terraces. Day trips around Tuscany for the next several days.
