April 6, 2013 – Saturday
Today I woke up at 7 to go
to the market at 7:30 (to get fruit!) and then we had to meet at 8 for our trip
to Siena! The twelve of us in the Renaissance Narrative class split up into a
van and a car, and we made our way to Siena. After about an hour and a half of
driving, we stopped in Monte Olivetti at a famous monastery to see “The Life of
St. Benedict” paintings (all 36 of them) and to have a picnic lunch. The
weather was BEAUTIFUL today, thankfully, because we spent a most of the day
outside! After a leisurely morning in that monastery and eating lunch, we got
back in the van & car and drove another hour to Siena. I felt like I didn’t
know that much about Siena, but apparently that’s where the color “Burnt
Sienna” comes from because all the buildings/houses are that shade of brown. We
made our way to the Piazza where they used to (or maybe they still do…?) have
horse races. And APPARENTLY this is where a scene in Letters to Juliet is
filmed but I had no idea until we returned home to Orvieto! Someone mentioned
that Letters to Juliet was filmed there and I was so mad because I didn’t even
realize it. Anyways… We went to the museum near the piazza to spend over an
hour looking at some important painting that I can't remember the name of (don't worry I'll look it up!). After that, we went to get some gelato and I
got a Kit-Kat flavored gelato. Sadly, it just tasted like chocolate ice cream
and it wasn’t too good but now I can say that I’ve had Kit-Kat gelato. We then
went to the duomo, the duomo museum, and the baptistery. Although I have to say
that my favorite part of the day wasn’t the museums, but it was climbing up the
tower near the duomo where we could see all of Siena from the top! We were only
allowed to be up there for ten minutes because there was a long line of people
before and after us, but it was easily the best part of the day and the weather
was still perfect. It was soon time to get back in the vans and drive home to Orvieto
to make it back in time for dinner. We arrived in Orvieto just in time for
Jenna and me to run over to the side of Orvieto to see the sunset. It was one
of the best sunsets we’ve seen so far! My camera doesn’t really do it justice,
but it was beautiful.
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LOVE the man-sweater!! haha
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are getting to see a lot and that is great. They do still have the horse race it is called the Palio di Siena. I think if I remember there are about 10 horses and riders and they ride bareback but wear their colors of their areas. It only last about 90 seconds and sometimes the horse arrives at the finish without his rider.
ReplyDeleteWait... you guys didn't stop at St.Catherines in Siena??? Their relic is one of the major things that city is known for!! Catherine of Siena was the saint who was attached to (what is now known as) a "Catherine Wheel" and rolled through the city. It was all part of her rather gory martyrdom.. ANyhow- At the church of St.Catherine, right there in Siena, is her head. HER HEAD. Just sitting in a little alcove, totally and inexplicably preserved, sitting on a little altar. Do yourself a favor, Google "Catherine of Siena, Head" it's wicked. ;)
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