I have a colleague who has travelled quite extensively in Italy, with his wife and two kids, but also “with the boys” on cycling expeditions through the Italian countryside. Naturally, I hit him up for some advice before we left. “Hire a driver, and tour Tuscany for the day – it’s spendy, but you won’t regret it,” he said.

Well, mid-trip – and not feeling at all like we haven’t already spent an obscene amount of money – we noodled his advice with our extra days in Florence. Remembering Maps & FlipFlops EuroTrip Rule #1 – “Money is not the reason we’ll skip something, ” we went down to see Astrid’s Dutch bestie at the front desk of our fancy hotel in Florence, hired us a car & driver and hit the road two days later.

The fellow who drove us was a local and as he drove us out of Florence and towards Siena he explained that in Italy you actually have to go to school and become certified to become a tour guide.  You can’t just memorize Lonely Planet, grab an umbrella and start herding people onto a bus. The idea being that Italy has rich and complex history, they don’t want some fly-by-night making it up as they go. Our guide explained this – showing us his credentials (often checked by the Italian police) – as we arrived at a church and he explained his training did not allow for him to go in with us, risk being fined for ‘touring’ us through something he was not certified in. I can’t begin to describe how expansive his knowledge was, how rapidly he rattled off the history and most importantly what a terrifying  -yet oddly safe – driver he was!

Our tour was to take us through a section of Tuscany – specifically Siena, San Gimignano and through a vineyard for a little wine tasting. (each will be covered in individual posts). While there were tours that let you spend an entire day JUST drinking wine, we agreed time (and geography covered) was best spent with the three-stop tour, though I did feel like more wine & less churches would have been ok too.

According to wikipedia – “the historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation’s most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008. Siena is famous for its cuisine, art, museums, medieval cityscape and the Palio, a horse race held twice a year. Siena is located in the central part of Tuscany, in the middle of a vast hilly landscape between the Arbia river valley, the Merse valley, the Elsa valley, the Chianti hills, the Montagnola Senese and the Crete Senesi. The city has a long and storied history, dating back as far as 900-400 bc which you can read more on here.

Wikipedia, in part details the local legend that “Siena was founded by Senius and Aschius, two sons of Remus and thus nephews of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Supposedly after their father’s murder by Romulus, they fled Rome, taking with them the statue of the she-wolf suckling the infants (Capitoline Wolf), thus appropriating that symbol for the town.”

UNESCO describes Siena as the embodiment of a medieval city. “Its inhabitants pursued their rivalry with Florence right into the area of urban planning. Throughout the centuries, they preserved their city’s Gothic appearance, acquired between the 12th and 15th centuries. During this period the work of Duccio, the Lorenzetti brothers and Simone Martini was to influence the course of Italian and, more broadly, European art. The whole city of Siena, built around the Piazza del Campo, was devised as a work of art that blends into the surrounding landscape.”

Agriculture constitutes Siena’s primary industry. (Clearly, fertilizer is sexy!) And as of 2009, over 900 companies comprised a workforce with a total area of over 10 square kiometres (4 square miles) of useable agricultural area.

There are four main sights of Siena that our guide walked us through before dropping us at what was the best gelato shop we encountered in Italy:

The Siena Cathedral/Duomo: best described as designed in Romanesque-Gothic architecture.  Believe it was built in the 12th century, with the main face of the church finished in 1380.  The history books say that it was originally planned to be a basilica – perhaps to be the largest in the word – however ‘best-laid plans, as they say’ and for a number of reasons the plan was scaled back to its current architectural state. (source: wikipedia)

The Siena Cathedral Pulpit: is an octagonal 13th-century masterpiece sculpted by Nicola Pisano with lion pedestals and biblical bas-relief panels. The inlaid marble mosaic floor of the cathedral, designed and laboured on by many artists, is among the most elaborate in Italy. The Sacristy and Piccolomini library have well preserved Renaissance frescos by Ghirlandaio and Pinturicchio respectively. Other sculptors active in the church and in the subterranean baptistry are Donatello, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Jacopo della Quercia and others. The Museo dell’Opera del Duomo contains Duccio’s famous Maestà (1308–1311) and various other works by Sienese masters. More Sienese paintings are to be found in the Pinacoteca, e.g. 13th-century works by Dietisalvi di Speme. (Source: wikipedia)

The Piazza del Campo:  was, for me, the highlight of the town’s architectural history. Wikipedia describes it best as a “shell-shaped town square, unfurls before the Palazzo Pubblico with its tall Torre del Mangia. The square is well known as a section of the Palio horse race. The Palazzo Pubblico, is an art museum housing works such as Ambrogio Lorenzetti‘s frescoes depicting the Allegory and Effects of Good and Bad Government and also some of the finest frescoes of Simone Martini and Pietro Lorenzetti. (Source: wikipedia)

The Plazzo Salimbeni: is the original headquarters and current home of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena, one of the oldest banks in continuous existence in Europe. (Source: wikipedia)

But, back to the horses. Now in Calgary we have something called the Calgary Stampede – a western event that takes over the city for 10 (some say 11 – Sugar Shack, anyone?) days in early July. So, fair to say we know a little bit about horse racing – of the Chuck Wagon variety. But, our expertise in  medieval horse racing is understandably limited. The Palio di Siena is run twice a year in early July and mid August.  They run around the Piazza del Campo. Wikipedia tells me – and I’m sure our guide did on our tour when I may have tuned out- that “Seventeen Contrade (which are city neighbourhoods originally formed as battalions for the city’s defence) vie for the trophy: a painted banner, or Palio bearing an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. For each race a new Palio is commissioned by well-known artists and Palios won over many years can often be seen in the local Contrade museum. During each Palio period, the city is decked out in lamps and flags bearing the Contrade colours. Ten of the seventeen Contrade run in each Palio: seven run by right (having not run in the previous year’s corresponding Palio) together with three drawn by lot from the remaining ten.”

“A horse is assigned to each by lot and is then guarded and cared for in the Contrade stable. The jockeys are paid huge sums and indeed there are often deals and bribes between jockeys or between “allied” Contrade committees to hinder other riders, especially those of ‘enemy’ Contrade. For the three days preceding the Palio itself, there are practice races. The horses are led from their stables through the city streets to the Campo, accompanied by crowds wearing Contrade scarves or tee-shirts and the air is filled with much singing and shouting. Though often a brutal and dangerous competition for horse and bare-back rider alike, the city thrives on the pride this competition brings. (source: wikipedia)

Wikipedia tells us that “the Palio is not simply a tourist event as a true Sienese regards this in an almost tribal way, with passions and rivalry similar to that found at a football ‘Derby’ match. In fact the Sienese are baptised twice, once in church and a second time in their own Contrade fountain. This loyalty is maintained through a Contrade ‘social club’ and regular events and charitable works. Indeed, the night before the Palio the city is a mass of closed roads as each Contrade organises its own outdoor banquet, often for numbers in excess of 1,000 diners. On the day of the Palio itself the horses are accompanied by a spectacular display of drummers and flag twirlers dressed in traditional medieval costumes who first lead the horse and jockey to the Contrade parish church and then join a procession around thePiazza del Campo square. This traditional parade is called the Corteo Storico, which begins in the streets and concludes in the Piazza del Campo encircling the square. There are often long delays while the race marshall attempts to line up the horses, but once underway the Campo becomes a cauldron of wild emotion for the 3 minutes of the race.”

Not unlike the Calgary Stampede, the event is not without its critics and much care is taken to ensure the safety and health of the horses who race.  And, there are those who not supportive of it at all – believing the horses would be better served not to be raced in this fashion.

Siena is also well-known for its art. And wikipedia tells me that “over the centuries, Siena has had a rich tradition of arts and artists. The list of artists from the Sienese School include Duccio and his student Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti and Martino di Bartolomeo. A number of well known works of Renaissance and High Renaissance art still remain in galleries or churches in Siena.”

“The Church of San Domenico contains art by Guido da Siena, dating to mid-13th century. Duccio’s Maestà which was commissioned by the City of Siena in 1308 was instrumental in leading Italian painting away from the hieratic representations of Byzantine art and directing it towards more direct presentations of reality. And his Madonna and Child with Saints polyptych, painted between 1311 and 1318 remains at the city’s Pinacoteca Nazionale.” (source: wikipedia)

The other tidbit that we found interesting was the ironwork horse hitches that were sprinkled all over the city.  Obviously owners would need to tie their horses up when they “parked” them outside their homes and businesses, but the detail and humour of the ironwork itself certainly caught the attention of me and my camera lens.

From Siena we headed off to San Gimignano.  Stay tuned for more on that…

Its been about three  months since we left off on our Euro adventures. Since then the air here has cooled, snow has fallen and the air of the holiday season is upon us. And, three months ago I had taken on the task of wrapping up the blogging for our final few cities and clearly have not be on top of that responsibility.

You’ll recall mid-trip we were weathered out of Switzerland, allowing us the opportunity to arrive in Forence sooner and, based from that wonderful city, day-trip out to a number of near-by locations with our extra days.

So, off we treked one morning to the Cinque Terre which is located on the coastline of the Italia Riviera, west of La Spezia.  As my usual source of wikipedia describes it “The Five Lands” comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia,Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Cinque Terre – in reality – cannot be seen in any great depth in a day, even a long one so we decided to take our first organized excursion to maximize our footprint.  We left Florence on a Greyhound-style bus at dawn and drove for about 90 minutes to arrive at our starting point.  I am told we past some of the Italian marble quarries, however, I slept right through that. Vacation’s are exhausting!

What sets Cinque Terre apart from many of the tourist destinations we have visited is the lack of tourism development and don’t misunderstand me when I say this is not a bad thing.  While the cruise industry, sadly, is changing the foot traffic dramatically, those tourists arrive (in fairness as we did as well) en mass, and march through the 5 villages so quickly there is very little time to make a significant economic impact – eating in restaurants, staying in hotels and spending in the little shops along they way. The locals struggle with the increase in people traffic and the wear and tear of all those feet, especially because they don’t actually leave that money behind for those trying to earn a living.  But at the same time, while clearly tourism was an important part of the locals & their livelihood, we didn’t get the sense there was desire for mass commercialize and over-development.

When one thinks of Cinque Terre you inevitably picture beautifully painted structures and terraces precariously built on the steep rugged coastline that history says would help guide the fishermen home.  They stretch all the way up to the cliffs that overlook the water.  What also makes Cinque Terre unique – and one of the ways it manages to sustain modern impacts is the connection of the villages by walking paths, trains and boats. Cars – and buses like ours – cannot reach them from the outside. We experienced all of these modes of transportation in our tour.

Wikipedia details the history better than I could ever summarize – “the first historical documents on the Cinque Terre date back to the 11th century. Monterosso and Vernazza sprang up first, whilst the other villages grew later, under military and political supremacy of the Republic of Genoa. In the 16th century to oppose the attacks by the Turks, the inhabitants reinforced the old forts and built new defence towers. From the year 1600, the Cinque Terre experienced a decline which reversed only in the 19th century,thanks to the construction of the Military Arsenal of La Spezia and to the building of the railway line between Genoa and La Spezia. The railway allowed the inhabitants to escape their isolation, but also brought about abandonment of traditional activities. The consequence was an increase in poverty which pushed many to emigrate abroad, at least up to the 1970s, when the development of tourism brought back wealth.”

The variation of house colors is because while fishermen were doing their jobs just offshore, they wanted to be able to see their house easily. This way, they could make sure their wives were still home doing the wifely duties. Most of the families in the five villages made money by catching the fish and selling them in the small port villages. Fish was also their main source of food.” Clearly femininsm had not yet reached these fishing villages….

In 2011 terrible rains caused flooding and mudslides, killing several and creating signicant damage to Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare.  It also washed popular trails that allows you to walk from village to village – something that with more time we would have loved to have done. Sentiero Azzurro (“Azure Trail”), connects the five villages. The trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola is called the Via dell’Amore (“Love Walk”). The stretch from Manarola to Corniglia (still closed in June 2012 for ongoing repairs since the October 2011 damage) is the easiest to hike, although the main trail into Corniglia finishes with a climb of 368 steps. (source: wikipedia)

Upon arrival at Manarola,  our first of the five cities that make up the village our tour guide – who I can only describe as an umbrella weilding maniac – ushered us off the bus and marched us to our second form of transportation for the day – the train.  Her rationale was that if we didn’t move it we would be trapped behind all of the other hundreds of tourists swarming the parking lot.  So we booked it down past lovely gardens, old buildings and, for Justified fans, Joelle Carter and an unidentfied man, unpacking their Fiat for a few days in a secluded villa.

From there we spend the day going from village to village – the train taking us to our second location where we had little time to wander, snap some photos and then – unbrella waving – we were herded on to the top of  ferry boat and toured along the breath taking coastline where you could really get a sense of the impressive coastline and imagine the painstaking work it would have taken to build up the coastline to the cliff points.

Our ferry pulled into the marina shortly before lunch in Monterosso al Mare and we had the opportunity to chat over pasta, fresh bread, wine and seafood with some of our fellow tour-sticker wearing tourists. It is always interesting to hear others motivations to travel and the various “routes” people take when they do a trip like this – some had come via Ireland and London, others -like us – France.

After lunch we had time to wander about, so we toured a tiny “lemon festival” and explored our way up the hillsides and down into town. That is when the grey skies that had joined us that day, opened up and and sent us scurring for our afternoon cappuccino.

Meeting up with the group, we were next herded back onto the train which took us to our last stop. Along they way – against some pretty serious threats that had occured since daybreak not to do so – several folks were seperated from the tour. We carried on and ended our tour in Vernazza which can best be described as a harbour watched over by a ruined castle and an old church. A bar is perched off the edge of the castle. There are little shops to wander through and a breakwater of rocks to scramble across to get a better look at the little boats bobbing up and down in the water and the late day sun (as much as there was) bouncing off “some of the coolest rock walls….geology!” we had seen that day.

The drive back to Florence was quiet as the scenary zipped by and darkness began to fall. Astrid was able to point out – and explain the significance of – the quarries I had missed on the way out that morning.  It was also a chance to reflect on the scenes of the day and our usual “Would one go back?” assessment of any rushed day trip. The consensus was yes. It is the kind of place you could go and Slothcation.  Find a little villa, settle in and just wander from village to village – hike, read, wander, sun on the beach (in better weather) and just ‘vacation’.