Siena Shopping

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Siena is well known for its ceramic works and it has very long tradition as well as in the rest of Tuscany. There is fine small subterranean gift-shop with the local craft works, right next to the Baptistry, offering ceramics and art reproductions, religious items and hand crafted ceramics which is the mosr expensive. It is called Artigianato Senese.
There a few other shops in the city area, worth of visiting too.

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On my way to the Piazza Del Campo, I saw this tiny store (the stores are all the same- they have tiny doors) and they sold different kinds of Asian foods. It is called the Universal Market.

I saw that they also sell some Filipino food (of course, in cans!). The only difference is that the Italians called Filipinos, "Filippinis".

The stores also sell Korean, Chinese and some African food.

For a store like this to thrive in Siena where I didn't see a lot of diversity, it must cater to a few expats from the Philippines and Africa!

This is the place to go if you have children at home and wanted to buy something special from your trip in Siena.

They have different unique stuff toys. They have Hello Kitty's purses and handbags.

They also sell postcards, calendars, etc.

This is not the same as the other store that is located at the entrance of Via Della Sapenza. It's a different store with many souvenirs to choose from.

There are postcards, key chains, picture frames, jewelries, potteries, photographs of Italy, etc.

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This is one among the many souvenir shops in Siena. This is located going to the center of Siena. They sell different potteries, flags, postcards, key chains, etc.

One thing weird about this place though was that they hang a flag in front of the door and the flag is in Italian colors with a huge "male organ" picture on it.

The good thing of having taken Italian lessons at Dante School was that I got “local” tips of where to buy things and didn’t need to stick to the overpriced tourist stuff around the Campo. Thanks to Letizia I went to Libreria Feltrinelli to buy a map for my weekend trip, since this trip wasn’t planned at all. I also bought a good book with verb tables in Italian, some postcards and even Donna Leon's newest "Commissario Brunetti" book in English at a reasonable price. Feltrinelli has three shops in Siena, all in Via Banca di Sopra (the road which connects the Campo with Piazza Gramci, where the overland busses leave from). One is specialised in language and travel books and others in Italian books. The one for travel books is easy to find, it is the smallest one and the one which is closer to the Campo (see photo).

Libreria Feltrinelli on Google Maps

© Ingrid D., November 2010.

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In case you want to treat yourself, friends or family with nice delicious souvenirs, La Boutique del Caffè is one of the places! They have heaps of coffee and tea and a rather big selection of chocolates of all kind, including what is called fondente (which would be fudge, but not the caramelised but the chocolate version). I had to close my eyes and just ask for coffee, freshly ground, because otherwise I would have bought everything that was on display, haha. The coffee came in several selections and I picked two for my Bialetti machine, one mild and one a bit stronger. 300 g of each was approx. 7 Euro. Although the bags were sealed after they were filled with the fresh ground coffee, the whole apartment smelled like one big caffè. I still am having my morning coffee with this caffè and sweet memories come back anytime I smell the aroma when my Bialetti is almost filled with this thick delicious brown liquid.

The shop, by the way, is another of Letizia’s great suggestions. Thanks again, my dear!

Directions:
From Campo, walk into the road Banca di Sopra, pass Nannini’s and turn right at the little piazza with the church. Walk into Via C. Angiolieri and look for the shop at the left hand side.
La Boutique del Caffè on Google Maps

© Ingrid D., November 2010.

Like most of Italian towns, Siena also has its typical and very much delicious pastries. The most famous place to buy these is most probably Nannini’s, the shop of Gianna and Alessandro Nannini’s family. But there are others and I am happy that my host Orietta made myself to know Bini. It is located in s a street where most of the tourists won’t pass by (= i.e. outside of the axis Campo - Duomo). Most of our evenings, Orietta put one of Bini’s delicious pastries as dessert on the table and it was very difficult to chose which one I liked most. But at the end it was clear that it was ricciarelli, almond and marzipan sweets, shaped like an almond (and said to represent the Madonna’s eyes). The other specialities of Bini were cantuccini (although they are a typical middle Italian pastry) and the famous panforte. The shop has a huge window where one can watch the pasticciere at work. Someone even made a video about Bini, which I have added to the website section below (4 minutes). On my last day I bought some of Bini’s specialities:
Panforte (500 g cake): 10 Euro, ricciarelli (300 g): 7,20 Euro.

Directions:
On the way from Campo to the duomo continue to walk through Via di Città continue on this road, which becomes Via di Stalloreggi now, instead of turning right to the duomo at the column with wolf & twins on top. Bini is at the left just next to the arch at the end of this street.

Bini on Google Maps

© Ingrid D., November 2010.