Day 8 Exploring Siena
- Thomas Delker
- Jun 6
- 2 min read
We did the slow wake, but we were all up and ready to head out the door by 9.30 am. We decided to splurge on breakfast directly on il campo and a splurge it was (about 3x what we normally pay) but with a great view. Without a plan for the day, we decided to do an audio walking tour that took us around Siena and through the Doumo (church). It was quite good, explaining the il campo horse race, the history of Siena which was one of the few states that focused on secular rule (so not controlled by the church) and struck the balance between church and state. It pointed out the many ‘she-wolf’ statues which are an icon of the city, basing their founding on the connection with Romulus and Rehmus of Roman who were raised by the she-wolf.
We went in to the Siena Duomo which has a sculpture by Michelangelo as one of an alter which he was supposed to complete but he was distracted by his David, and so another sculptor finished it. It was very interesting to see how much expressions and feeling were present in his statue while the others felt more lifeless although as impressive.
The highlights were the floor mosaics depicting various scenes. One of which was the ‘slaughter of the innocents’ where Herod had all the babies under two killed. It was visceral.
Then a slice of pizza that was amazing and a stop to get sandwiches to carry tomorrow on our way. The winner - Porchetta sandwich, a roasted pork stuffed with, well, something delicious (herbs and garlic)!
Then back to our place for the heat of the day for a rest before dinner. While that was happening, I jetted around town to a bike shop to get some spare tubes, as we were still down one, and I was hoping to have a total of 5. Success was had in the tube department while I was very unsuccessful at efficiently navigating Siena with my bike. The directions seem to take me up and down all three hills each time I go out!
A good dinner was had and we headed home early as we have a big day tomorrow!
Do
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