Language School Italian
by 78Eva
Stay for the Palio (the hourse race), inform yourself about the contradas, have a cup of wine sitting on the ground on the campo at night, go to the Tea Room if it's open, have lunch at the Grattacielo... There is a wonderful language school in Siena, where I studied Italian three summers in a row. It's called SaenaIulia and is right opposite the Duomo. I met such friendly people there, good teachers and had a lot of fun. They can get you nice rooms in apartments or rooms with families. You usually find friends very easily; that's the good thing about Siena, you actually run into people.
Their webpage:
www.saenaiulia.it
Packing List
by sandravdp
Take a backpack or suitcase with you. Dress lightly in summer, but bring along a sweater because in the evening it cools off a bit. Bring some good walking shoes as well, because Sienna is built on three hills and you will have to climb up and down! Suncream & anti-mosquito cream / spray! Film is available here. Don't buy film that has been laying in the sun!
Change in Chiusi
by rexvaughan
Getting from Rome to Siena by train requires a change in Chiusi. The bar in the photo is just across the street from the train station in Chiusi and a great place for lunch or a snack between trains.
I always kid myself that I am a savvy traveler. I knew in Rome I wanted a train bound for Chiusi and in the station there I saw many ticket windows with signs saying "Chiuso." I thought this little place I never heard of must be qute a transportation hub until I finally realized it was "chiuso" (closed in Italian) and not "Chiusi," the town. So much for my Italian!
I don't learn easily as later in the trip I decided to bone up enough to ask my question in Italian since I assumed most clerks in train stations would not necessarily speak English. As far as I know I asked the question properly in Italian, but he answered me in Italian and I have no idea what I was told! Lucky I am not still in some left luggage compartment in Milan or Rome or wherever.
Gelateria Caribia - not the best in town
by sue_stone about Gelateria Caribia
Prior to our last visit in Sep 2007, I read a review that claimed Gelateria Caribia served the best gelato in Siena. Obviously we had to try it out to see how it compared to the other places we had tried gelato on previous visits to this beautiful town.
First of all we had to find it. Although it is located just off the main square, it still took us a little while to locate it - but that is the joy of Siena, even with a map it is still tricky to navigate (in a good way!). Anyway, we found Gelateria Caribia and ordered a couple of scoops each. Unfortunately we were not impressed. The ice cream was way too icy and the flavours not as rich and delicious as you expect from tasty Italian gelati. I didn't even bother to finish mine.
Get to the top
by BruceDunning
It was closed off when we were there for renovation, so no inside pictures or viewing. The church is really a nice work of art, though to be appreciated. Construction was begun in 12th century and finally completed in 1380. The style is called Romanesque in design. The intent was to construct the largest church interior in all of Italy, but that never got finished. The unfinished walls are shown in the picture below, and still standing. They ran out of money and never recovered to complete.
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Siena, Fonte del Casato
View of Siena and the countryside
Palazzi Signorili 1
You are in the "eagle" contrada
