Villa Corazzesi Bed and Breakfast

Tuscany

by aussiecouple

We ignored everyone's advice and hired a car in Florence for 3 days. Our little Ford Kia took us on the S222 (when we finally found it) through Chianti to Siena, then on to San Gimignano and then to La Spezia where we gratefully dropped the car off. Our nerves and relationship barely survived - next time we will definitely take bus trips.

We parked the car nearby and walked into the old town. Early evening (6 pm) meant the Campo and town were still bathed in sunshine and not too full of tourists.
After a difficult day driving, navigating and inevitably becoming lost it was relaxing to sit in one of the many reasonably priced restaurants in the Square and 'people watch'.

We stayed in a B&B in Siena - Villa Corazzesi - where the owner did not speak English and our Italian was basic. She did however speak French which made for interesting communication.

Look up...........

by leics

The Duomo is beautiful of course, its 13th century facade a panorama of twiddles and images, its barley-sugar twists and its pink-and-white layers..............rather like a cake, in fact.

It's easy to be amazed, and then wander inside to explore some more. But it's worth exploring the facade in more depth, if you have time (your camera zoom-lens wil be helpful). The statues are mostly from the workshop of Giovanni Pisano, who designed the frontage in 1284, although the mosaics date from the nineteenth century (made by Venetian artists). There's am amazing range of statues and carvings: people, geometric twiddles, tiny angels, animals, birds.....even a Green Man hidden away (see tip below).

Remember that Medieval sculptors based faces in their carvings on people they knew.........you are looking at images of real people. And it didn't matter if the carving was too high up for people to see it, for it would always be visible to God.

Decent and rustic

by rephluxx about Osteria Castelvecchio

This restaurant is a ten minutes walk from the center and serves up good Sienese food. There was a good selection of vegetarian dishes, and the wine selection (although small) covered the region's specialties. I would eat here again. The prices weren't the cheapest, but weren't horribly expensive as well. I really liked that this Osteria did not seem touristy like so many restaurants did - especially near the center. I had an amazing artichoke risotto plus a tantalizing selection of local cheeses. Both were extremely flavourful and like nothing I'd eaten elsewhere.

The Town Trapizoid

by rexvaughan

The heartbeat of Siena seems to be Il Campo, the town square or trapizoid as I have called it because it is not even retangular. Someone described it as the most beautiful square he had ever seen partly because it isn't a square. It is surrounded by a harmonious row of Gothic buildings all constructed with the famous Sienese pale red brick. It fans out from the backdrop of the Town Hall with its magnificent tower at the lower end to the Fountain of Joy which replaced a statue of Venus in medieval times. The pagan statue was blamed for the plague which ravaged Siena in the 14th Century.

The whole square slopes noticeably toward the city hall end and at one time served to colledt water in a municipal cistern. Now it serves to drain the square very effectively.

On thing that struck me as strange upon reflection is the absence of any plant life in the Campo. Not evey many potted plants among the sidewalk cafes. If you had told me this before I would not have believed it could be as beautiful as it is.

Duomo Santa Maria Assunta

by globetrott

Duomo Santa Maria Assunta

The Cathedral was built on the highest point of town
and it was planed to be much bigger than it appears today

In 1210 the construction of the church was started, but
the lack of money finally reduced to cathedral to its size of today

In the lower part of the pic you may see the part of the church that was never finished