Siena

Today we went to Siena, a fairly small town about an hour away from Florence. It was so beautiful! The churches and cathedrals were amazing, far more extravagant than anything I've seen in the US. The main part of the city was all built inside a wall (for protection) and it was so neat! I learned that the town is divided into 17 districts, or contrade, and they all had really funny names! Some of the names I remember are dragon, goose, forest, eagle, panther, and hippopotamus. There was so much history in this little town! It was originally a banking town, and the oldest, still working bank is located here! Also, this is where St. Catherine of Siena was from and we got to go in her church (San Domenico, the first picture above) and learn a little bit about her. We also saw the Cathedral of Siena which was gorgeous (second picture above)! It took nearly 3 centuries to complete and the carvings and details were so intricate. It was amazing. Perhaps my favorite part was the Piazza del Campo which is basically a huge open area surrounded by beautiful buildings--restaurants, apartments, shops, and businesses (third picture above). Twice each year a famous horse race, The Palio, is held between the 17 contrade. The horses race around the Piazza with a jockey riding bareback and the contrade that wins gets to hold the pride for the whole year until the next race. In recent years, the tortuga contrade has been winning the race often (I guess Aesop was right). After a few hours of touring and exploring, me and a few other girls found a nice pizza place and enjoyed some delicious Sienese pizza on the Piazze del Campo. I hope to be able to go back to Siena since it's so close and spend some more time exploring inside the city walls :)