Home is where you do the laundry

November 1, 2011

Our second and last Sienna morning breakfast. You can see the bell tower of the Campo in the background.

Eleni's recent photography skills...
Leaving the city. We went through the Campo one last time.

It was around here yesterday that Alex professed his love for Sienna. "Can we live here?"

This may or may not have caused the following falling apart moment where Eleni said she wanted to go home. Home? Which home? You mean to the hotel? The apartment in Viterbo? Gran's house in England? Or, the blue house in New Jersey? Which home?

Walked past our friend's crescent moon shape again and again. Wondering if these are just symbolic or if they help contain the horses during the summer Palio. In July and August each year there is a bareback horse race in the Campo. The jockeys represent the 17 districts of Sienna and the horses get blessed before the race.
Looking at Sienna from the outskirts.
We set off for a ruined Abbey in San Galgano. San Galgano was a knight (1148-81) who decided to live his life for God and turn his back on war. As a symbol of his decision, he tried to break his sword on a stone (sounding familiar?), and the rock absorbed the sword. So, next to this deserted Abbey is a church with a sword stuck in a stone. For San Galgano, this was a sign of God's approval. He built a hut where the current church is and the Cistercian monks followed with this Abbey in 1218. You can still see the stone and the sword, but we only got a quick glimpse because of the All Saints' Day mass.
We drove through some spectacular, beloved, and tourist book photograph friendly countryside. Windy dirt roads twisting around hill towns led us to Montalcino.

We had a lovely lunch in the famous wine capital. We quickly looked around the castle and then said goodbye to our friends who were heading in the opposite direction home.
Darkness and the need for a gas station created a dramatic end to our peaceful weekend away. It gets cold here at night and, in my mind, I started wondering how we'd make it through the night huddled together in our little car with a few drops of water and gluten free snacks left.

How would we fend off bandits?

Like so many moments, the fear passes quickly when you see the neon lights of a gas station. Phew!

We made it back to our apartment in time for baths for the kids, lunch making, laundry pile dividing, and all of the other wonderful daily chores that keep us grounded. We really could be anywhere with these rituals. Our short two night and three day excursion was helpful in feeling at home here in Italy; at the end of the day, when you return, unpack and fall into bed, it's home.

Don't mention Halloween!

Monday, October 31

So, it's Halloween. It's a day we have tried to avoid talking about.

We're still in Sienna. I'll walk us through some of the artwork that I fell in love with, and then move us on quickly to our current day. There is a problem here though: I'm writing about Halloween day and night and yet, but I'm living in November. I'll try to bridge this gap...

We visited the Duomo in Sienna today. It was built between 1215 and 1263 over an earlier church and tells much of the story of Siena in its grandeur and its neglect.

This was the entrance to the Baptistry, which is located beneath the one of the choir bays in the Cathedral. We arrived early and found ourselves hanging around waiting for the church to open at 9:30 AM.

After some people watching, pigeon watching, and some extra coffee, we got our tickets and went straight up the tower. The bell tower is located in what was meant to be an entirely new addition to the church, but the black death in 1348 halted any plans for that and they had to give up the dream. So, a hollow shell remained where a new nave would have been. They filled this in with a beautiful museum that I would gladly revisit. One of my best memories of the day was looking at the artwork with Alex and Eleni; they actually listened and asked questions about the comparison of Byzantine and Renaissance works and the Biblical stories we were looking at. When Eleni spotted an Annunciation piece and loudly (and proudly) called me over to see it, the guard was not happy, but I was.

Our hotel is somewhere in this labyrinth.

We went back to the Baptistry. I could have spent much longer in this space with sculptures by Donatello, Sienna's unique marble floors, and frescoes of the beginnings and the ends of the Christian cycle, baptism and the apocalypse. Yes, with some annunciation motifs, too.

Neil's friends found us and then we all visited the Cathedral together. Overwhelming.
The floor is covered with mosaics. This one is famous, but gruesome. It's the murder of the innocents. While this scene is disturbing, it's just the beginning.

Alex and I walked through the Piccolomini Library. If you read yesterday's entry, you know who these crescent shaped mosaics on the floor belong to. The whole room is dedicated to Pope Pius II as well!

Artwork lesson for the day complete. We had a picnic in the Campo with our friends and then went back to the hotel for siesta. It was a beautiful day for hanging out the laundry...After siesta, we wandered around Siena with our friends. We spent some of that precious time between afternoon drinking combinations of that in between time. Here we are overlooking the Campo.
And, Halloween? OK. It does exist here, but it's more of a party event rather than door to door. A few days before, when Alex and Eleni realized they were not going trick or treating in the same magical sugar induced manner as home, they both crumbled. So, Neil and I chose to ignore the day completely. Surely that will help.

Well, yes and no.

Yes, great strategy until...

No.

All of the afternoon into twilight time, we were bombarded by Italian children: four-feet-tall gremlins, angels, witches, and ghosts coming home from Halloween parties carrying bags of candy. The effort we put into distracting Alex and Eleni from seeing them was comical. And, of course, just a huge failure.

"It's Halloween! Where is our candy?!"

Ah, the deserts of Tuscany!

Sunday, October 30

We're off for our first overnight exploration! We're heading to Tuscany in the early morning fog.

On the autostrada, 7 AM.
By 8 AM, it was looking more colorful in some areas.
We stopped at the outskirts of Montepulciano to see this church of Madonna di San Biagio. It's architect, Antonio da Sangallo, designed this in the Renaissance Greek cross central plan and it was built in the early 16th century.
We moved on to Pienza, the dream of Pope Pius II. He was born here in 1405 and after being elected pope in 1458, he decided to commission a new center of Renaissance perfection in his hometown. We parked our car and this 20th century statue was our first sight. Perfection?!
We walked through the center, distracted by the quaint shops along the way.

We visited the nearby church of San Francesco, which had a few remains of some 14th century frescoes. We spent some time trying to figure out which story was being told. Here, we think, is the Angel Gabriel telling Mary that she is with child.

We walked around the papal palace towards the wall.

Despite Alex's pathetic pose, he was having a good time!

We had coffee and snacks across from the three 'must sees' of Pienza: the Duomo, town hall and papal palace. Admired the architect's, Bernardo Rossellino, attempts at perfection and wondered about Pope Pius II's crescent shaped symbol.

The Duomo's doors (from the interior) were flanked by the confessionals.

His crescent moon symbol was everywhere! Quite the modest fellow. Siena is covered in these, too.
Tuscany brings images of rolling hills covered with healthy fields of sunflowers, but we saw a different late October landscape. We had our lunch here, on the side of a field looking back at Pienza.
Across the way, this was our view. Not what they put in the travel books!

Soon we were through the desert and on the outskirts of Siena. I took this photo just after we found parking and walked through the gates.
We were greeted by the she-wolf of Romulus and Remus fame. This time, Remus gets some credit, as it is his son, Senius, that legend has founding this town.
We found our hotel and walked around a few corners to San Domenico. Building started on this gothic church in 1226.

It is a beautiful space with gorgeous artwork, but it is mostly famous for housing the head of one of Siena's famous locals, St. Catherine. She had many visions and she received her stigmata here. I only took a photo of the door frame.

We walked towards the fortress and I took this photo of St. Catherine's statue looking directly at San Domenico's bell tower.

Turning around, you see the walls of a fortress. We walked around, in, and on the Medicea Fortress. Cosimo I had this built after the Florentines defeated Siena after their 1554-5 war. More than 8,000 Sienese died in the 18 month siege. Today, this fortress seems more popular for running laps in.

This was the view from one of the fortress walls. You can see San Domenico's in the foreground and the Duomo in the background.

We met up with Neil's friend and visited the Campo. Perfect spot to have kids run round.
Off to dinner! A good reunion and more to look forward to in our two night stay!