Okay everybody, it’s time for a change in tone: I’m starting to bore myself with being sad in such a beautiful place. There are so many things to love about being in Siena (and Italy in general) that I want to share some of them. Since it is difficult to describe it all in words, I decided to carry my camera around with me on Friday to provide a little photo tour. I hope the stories and pics can do the city some justice, although nothing can be the equal of sitting here on my bed on a Sunday morning listening to the bells of the basilica ring. I like this habit so much I think I’ll plan on updating the blog every Sunday so you guys can anticipate new entries with a little regularity. In any case, here’s my best attempt at sharing what I love about being here – godate (enjoy)!
To start, I just love being greeted with a kiss (on the cheek). When I arrived at the Scuola Leonardo da Vinci, the director greeted me with a kiss. Yesterday morning, I stumbled out of my room to find my landlord bringing pastries and coffee for all of us and he greeted me with a kiss. My new friend Lyndall (whose adventures are being chronicled in her own blog, more on that later) and I met on the Campo and we greeted with a kiss. As we left, our waiter, Pino (who knows another friend of mine very well), said goodbye with a kiss. There’s no affection involved, but it’s really nice to be recognized and remembered every day, especially in a new place so far from home.
I also love Italian sayings. There seems to be a proverb for everything, long spoken for the situations we all work through. To me it feels like the proverbs reflect an understanding that although many of these experiences are universal, they are serious in the moment, especially to the person involved. For example, instead of good luck, the Italian saying is literally translated “in the mouth of the wolf.” This saying is always responded to with a particular word that means “may it die before it bites,” a serious response to a perilous situation – even when it is spoken in jest, which I’ve heard a lot. Comforts are more intentional, too. In English we say, “when one door closes, another one opens” while in Italian, one uses specific words for the size of the doors: “When one small door closes, a big one opens.” Now that’s comforting.
Speaking of comfort, or food for the soul, another thing I love about Siena is that art is everywhere. This is where the pictures come in handy. I live in Piazza San Francesco, and this is the building where I live:
If you look up when you walk in, this is the ceiling:
If you walk out, this is the piazza, which (along with the basilica) is a work of art in and of itself:
Ever complain about sidewalk “art?” Here it’s no joke: a man recreates a classic painting on the street every week:
Just look at her face:
In Siena there’s rarely a detail that isn’t breathtakingly beautiful. You have to keep your eyes open as you follow your feet through town…it took me three days to notice this not especially modest lady who watches me walk to school every morning:
See what I mean?
Of course, no entry about things I love would be complete without some mention of the food. It would be easy to spend thousands of dollars (and possibly gain thousands of pounds) during this year, but eating good food here doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. In fact, most Tuscan dishes are fairly simple. I don’t have the budget to eat many “real” Italian courses at my meals, but I’m not suffering at all. For one thing, Pino always brings something wonderful (fresh mozzarella with rucola, mortadella stuffed with ricotta, pastry filled with chicken, sliced sweet tomatoes) with the prosecco in the evening. For another, fresh food just isn’t expensive. This morning I ate yogurt with a nectarine I bought for a few cents. I purchased it from the octogenarian couple who own this little shop a few steps from the apartment:
And most days for lunch, I spend two euros on a piece of pizza that looks something like this:
Getting hungry? I find that I can say yes to that question here and not worry so much. Since I usually cook in my own kitchen, walk everywhere (another thing I love about Italy), and everything is so fresh and healthy, I just don’t worry about how much I’m eating. Neither the pounds nor the cash seem to be a problem yet.
Just so I can include an element of the absurd, have I mentioned Italian space-saving strategies? Everything is much smaller here: cars, refrigerators, washing machines...and bathrooms. The space saving measure in my apartment is the toilet in the shower stall. Not kidding, hope the photo gives you a laugh:
I know it’s been a long entry, but I want to end with one last Siena-focused love - and a word of warning about Siena’s most famous event: Il Palio. I’ll add details later, but this week the entire city is celebrating the race. Horses and images of horses are everywhere (well, the actual horses are mostly in the Piazza del Campo). The contradas are having parties almost every night and there is pageantry surrounding the major happenings, including marches through town featuring medieval dress, the contrada flag, and repetitive drumming that reverberates off of the city walls. It’s amazing to see traditions that have been passed on for hundreds of years. These are not tourist events, not performed for those of us who are visiting. We are lucky to watch, but we are not invited to join in – this is Siena at its best and most real, and for me, it’s a gift. But here’s the word of warning: the events are happening around the clock, including early in the morning. If a person, say, copes with listening to a new friend’s dating dilemmas by trying Siena’s famous spritz (prosecco and aperol on ice) in addition to her glass of prosecco, and if that same person is not accustomed to drinking such a thing, and if she happens to live on a piazza where the giraffe contrada practices drumming before it begins its Sunday morning march through town, this person should purchase ear plugs because these guys will be her wake-up call:
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