Day 10 - 11: Sienna

Ahhh...Sienna!

Along the way towards Rome from Florence lies the wonderful little city of Sienna. A walled city, much like Lucca, its roads are free from bothersome cars, giving it a special character that is irresistible. From the train station, we hiked up the steep hill to find the city proper, tucked away behind its tall walls.

Sienna is a very cool town. Everything is cramped inside its walls, resulting in twisting & winding streets and walkways, much like the canals of Venice, and residences, businesses, and shops all crammed in together. Sienna is the origin of a famous color of Crayola fame. All the municipal buildings are built with bricks made of clay from the surrounding area, and these bricks happen to be that orangish, rusty, color we all know and love - Burnt Sienna! (Since it was dark and snowy, everything was more of a grayish gray - probably won't find that one in your box of crayons).


Sienna has its Duomo of course. And its Duomo museum. A Michelangelo stained glass. Some other old stuff and lots of Baby Jesus. Sienna at one point decided it was going to build the largest church in the world, but only got one wall finished before a plague wiped out their workforce. We climbed to the top of that wall (it obviously still stands) for an incredible view of the city below. The walkway atop the wall was impossibly narrow, room for barely two people abreast, and the spiral staircases leading up to the top were even narrower. Only room for someone to go up, or someone to go down. No passing!

One of the neatest things about Sienna is the Palio. The town is split into 17 different neighborhoods, or contrade. Twice a year, they each choose a champion who will race his horse around the tiny town square. Victory in the Palio is to be elevated to the level of local hero. For a year at least. While we didn't get to see the actual horse race, it was fun to sit in the square and imagine the huge crowds of people cheering for their contrada and the horses whipping around at breakneck speed.