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Siena
Tuscany's cities of art are an ancient prophecy of the quality of life present in the great works of the past, which coexist with ours and are inlaid in them, in a highly picturesque landscape.
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Siena prides in serving the best Tuscan cuisine. Even its toponomy refers to food, suffice to think of the alleys Malcucinato and Salecotto and, contrada dell’Oca, where cattle was slaughtered in times gone by.
Urban trekking is fascinating and easy, but it makes you hungry. However, Siena has thought of everything. Refined restaurants, taverns and eating houses designed to please all pockets are ready to let you sample their typical, healthy, savoury and creative cuisine.
Poverty triggers creative culinary ideas when combined with a fertile land that produces a world famous olive oil. Farmers used freshly pressed oil to soften old bread, which they toasted slightly and sprinkled with garlic. Hence, the bruschetta, which is now enriched with many herbs and colours. Rice dishes (i.e. salted rice pudding) are a speciality of Siena's cuisine. Merchants travelling through Siena with Eastern spices on their way back from long journeys also brought rice to pay for the hospitality offered by the many stable hands turned into improvised innkeepers.
The excellent Chianine beef and wild boar are often still cooked on an oak wood and brush fire, as dictated by ancient customs.
Those who could not afford beef invented delicious vegetable soups (i.e cipollata, ribollita) and nourishing soups, like ginestrata, made with one egg yolk for every cup of broth, one small glass of dry Vinsanto wine, cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg and powdered cloves - the spicy traces of the merchants' junction.
Another invention typical of Siena at the time of Barbarossa is dry sausage with lots of garlic and pepper, which were used at the time to prevent meat from spoiling, but there are also migliacci made of pork blood and, nana (spit-roasted duck).
The ideal wines for the strongest dishes number the excellent Chianti and Colli Senesi productions, but a good eating place will suggest the well-flavoured farmer's wine, which is blood red and fragrant. Do not expect sinuous bottles and labels; they will be served in large jugs or table flasks, so don't be shy!
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The city stands between Val d’Elsa, Val d’Orcia, Mt. Chianti and the Crete Senesi hills, in a natural fresco that has gifted masters of art with a unique unrepeatable colour: Sienna. In prehistoric times these lands were submerged by the sea, which withdrew depositing sand that mixed with the burnt ochre coloured soil rich in iron, which seemed to warm even the most austere architectural building.
In Siena's country one often finds shells and marine fossils that date back millions of years.
This city with its unusual Y-shaped layout that divides it into three parts on three hills brings the Middle Ages to the third millennium. A few words that witness the city's hospitality: Cor Magis Tibi Siena Pandit [Siena opens its heart wider than this door] survive in the Camollia third, which is limited by the namesake door.
Access to the historical centre is totally forbidden to cars, but a network of escalators easily links up this area to the decentralised car parks. All tourist and historical goals can be reached on foot with a short stroll along the many alleys that weave their way from the famous Piazza del Campo with its original valve-shell shape. The Palio [horse race] is held on 29 June - 3 July and on 13 - 16 August - it counts 10 horses ridden bare-back for three turns of the square. This unique event is Siena's very life and, natives of the city's districts organise celebrations all year round.
The square, the heart of the city, is encircled by both refined crenellated turretted palaces and spacious Renaissance arcades. The slender severe Mangia tower crowned by the aedicule rises 102 m, beside the Public Palace, which is one of the most refined examples of gothic architecture. The centre of the square hosts a real sculptural jewel, the Gaia Fount by Jacopo della Quercia (now a reproduction).
The Gothic Cathedral (construction works commenced on it in 1100 AD) with its Romanesque tower prides in decorative works by major artists in art history over the centuries.
The internal flooring is especially interesting with 56 marble slabs inlaid with mythological figures and scenes of the old testament. The black and white pillars refer to the colours of the balazana, the symbol of Siena - a shield with the Capitoline she-wolf feeding the twin sons of Remo, Senio and Aschio. According to the legend, the brothers rode two steeds, one white and the other black, when they founded Sena Julia.
Along the street that links the Cathedral and Piazza del Campo you will find Palazzo Chigi-Saracini, which today hosts the prestigious Accademia Musicale Chigiana, formed in 1932 and internationally appreciated. Delightful concerts are held to showcase famous artists and the best young talents every summer, from July to August.
Siena's focus on children, its inhabitants and tourists is admirable. In recent years the famous National Art Gallery (Palazzo Buonsignori, via S. Pietro 29- tel. O577- 281161) has organised interesting entertaining workshops for children under 11 years, proposing various guided anti-boredom tracks to discover and appreciate art, ranging from ancient to contemporary works.
Visits to the museum are free of charge for visitors aged under 18.
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