Fork and Gobble It: Tuscan Honeymoon - Siena Sensory Overload

Siena is a must for this trip because I'd been there before and although a tourist presence is evident, it is nowhere near as commercial or in your face as Florence. We had no plans other than to walk the city, eat, drink, and go wherever our noses took us. We rose to another gorgeous day and took our time getting ready to go. How very Italian! A 45 minute drive through rolling green hills brought us into the city. Historically, Siena and Florence have always been at odds with each other and we were told that evidence of this still exists today. The rail system that connects the two cities has problems with reliability due to this lingering animosity.

We parked the car and walked into the city. The plan of the moment was to get our bearings, eat (of course!), and visit the Duomo there. This was a must for me as I had been there before. After having seen the Duomo in Florence the day before, I could attest that although Florence may have a bigger cathedral, the details of the Duomo in Siena are nothing less than breathtaking. We quickly located the Osteria where we wanted to eat and a shop where one woman made beautiful hand loomed scarves and garments. We spoke to her in our mangled Italian and promised we would return later that afternoon to purchase some of her work as gifts for relatives at home. Hunger pangs could not be ignored at this point so we made our way back to the Osteria Chiacchera or Chatterbox, for lunch. I ordered a green salad, gnocchi with pork sausage in tomato sauce, and grilled lamb chops to split between the two of us. A light lunch as it were, and of course a bottle of Rosso di Montepulciano to wash it all back.

We were constantly marveling at the simplicity of the cooking and how it worked so well. Lamb grilled to perfect medium, seasoned with just salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon over arrugula. Nothing else could have made this better.

We moved on. I was very excited to see the magnificence of the Duomo. We walked through the afternoon heat. The climate in Tuscany is similar to here in New Jersey but the sun tends to get a little stronger especially at midday. As we approached the Duomo the difference between this structure and the one in Florence was clear. The details were amazing.

Once inside words could not express what we saw. There were carvings everywhere. Highly detailed inlays were in the floor, roped off to prevent them from being worn by the foot traffic. The ceilings were decorated with myriads of paintings and trimmed with sculptures of the heads of the clergy throughout the centuries.



We must have spent an hour and a half inside and I know I snapped close to one hundred photos. I keep coming back to the comparison of what we consider to be “wonders of the world” today and to understand that this was built in a period from the early 12th century to the 14th century, simply boggles the mind. A portion of the structure remains incomplete as it was halted by the Black Plague in the mid 14th century.

It was getting late in the afternoon and we decided to slowly start making our way back to base camp. We did return to the shop where we saw the woman weaving scarves. She was surprised to see us. My guess is that she hears it all the time from window shoppers that they will return. In a sort of parallel to what we'd just seen, we were taken by the the artisanal garments she produced and the the timeless method of hand looming that she used. A small lesson that hand skills aren't always improved upon by technology.

Back in Colle di Val d'Elsa, we found a local pizzeria, far better than the one we lunched at earlier in the week. A late, low key dinner was the perfect end to a visually amazing day.

*As a side note, there is a very good Wikipedia file on the Duomo in Siena. It goes into great detail and I suggest it if you are interested. Our next foray would be right in the village where we were based for a two star lunch at an amazing restaurant.