Tuscany
welcomed us into its rolling green hills, punctuated with cypresses and rustic
stone buildings, in muted sunshine. We camped up at a lovely little site,
Camping Montagnola, about 10kms outside Siena, at Sovicille, from where we planned
to take the bus into the city the next day, a very reasonable €3.60 each
return and the bus stops at the campsite. Loving the relatively inexpensive nature of public transport in
Italy so far.
We awoke to
the spit spot of rain at 7am and made sure we packed umbrellas and jumpers for
the day. Who'd have thought we'd be wandering around Siena in the rain! We
hopped aboard the 08:50 bus and settled down to a drizzly journey into the
city. We began our walk in El Campo, the huge scallop shaped central point of
the city and where the famous Palio bareback horse races take place. By
now, it was throwing it down, so we retreated into a little cafe to refuel and
make plans. First stop was the Museo Civico, big on the wow factor for me, with
its impressive Sala del Mappamundo and the huge gothic frescoes. The adjacent
Torre del Mangia tower was closed because of the weather and the art gallery in
the old hospital (the three can be bought as a combined ticket) felt too much
like gallery overload in a day, so we decided to explore more of the city.
So off we
went, replete with art, in search of a light lunch. There are plenty of places
here to buy picnic ingredients and of course, pizza slices. For someone who is
definitely not a pizza fan in the UK, I'm becoming rather partial here!
Luckily for
us, since the rain had decided to stop for the afternoon and we were even
treated to a peek or two of sunshine, we decided that to just wander, soaking
up the atmosphere and architecture of this amazing cityscape was the best
plan. It seemed that around every corner there was a surprise, from
statues to sculptures to frescoes or just another glimpse of an intriguing
alleyway. For me, this was the best part of Siena; the art was wonderful too,
but it was the city that captured me.
El Giardino
dei Tarocchi
In the
late1970s, a French artist called Niki de St-Phalle began to create a sculpture
park in the hills east of Orbatello. She died in 2002, having achieved
her goal; a garden dedicated to the art of the tarot. This place sounded
intriguing to read about, but nothing could have prepared us for the sheer enjoyment
of experiencing the place; an entire afternoon with huge smiles on our faces at
every turn. This place is AMAZING! and so much fun. Look at the pictures and
then go to the website and marvel some more! Whatever you do, if you're ever in
the area, go!
We were in
ear to ear grin mode as we left the Tarot Garden and decided to try for a
coastal park up for some light refreshment and a decision on where to sleep . .
. .
J.
J.
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