Orientation and Siena

The next day, we had orientation all day..with meals interspersed meals, of course! We had a lecture about rules at the villa and things like that and a lecture by Professor Mariotti, the art history professor, about the city of Florence. We also found out that the next day, Friday we would be going on a trip to Siena and a wine tasting in a different Tuscan villa! Later in the day, the house fellow gave us a little walking tour of Sesto and told us where we could buy different things like bus tickets, food, where a good ATM was, course packs, gelato, etc.

Friday morning we had to get up early to go to Siena. It was about an hour and a half away from the villa and we traveled by coach bus. The day started with a little tour of some main parts of Siena from Prof. Mariotti--by the way, she's a genius and knows so much about any painting or church in Italy...it seems! We saw St. Catherine of Siena's house and church and that was interesting. We also saw the Cathedral in Siena. (For the tours, and art history classes all semester we get these receiver things that we plug headphones into and prof. Mariotti has a microphone...which I think is soo much fun!)

We were free to explore the city and eat our packed lunch. It turns out, in response to Florence's great cathedral, Siena wanted to build a grander cathedral. They built one tower and never completed it. Anyone is able to climb up the tower for a great view of Siena. Of course, the climb is on narrow winding concrete stairs, and it's really high! But, it was fun, and as promised there was a great view! There was a group of 6 or 7 of us that ate our lunches up there...I don't know if that was actually allowed, but we did it anyway. After lunch we went for a walk around the city and explored. It was a really cool place in that it was made on three main hills. (Whereas Florence is made in the valleys of hills!) Cars and motorinis (mopeds) had a tough time getting up and down the hills.

At 3:30 we met in the main square for a tour with prof. Mariotti of the government building. I thought it was very interesting, but the building was also very warm. When the tour was over we headed back to the bus and were on our way.

We stopped an hour or so into the trip at a villa for the vineyard tour and wine tasting. We learned all about Principe Corsini wine and then got to taste three different kinds. They were alright; I don't think I know enough about wine to really enjoy wine tastings! But I thought the tour was mighty interesting!

After the wine tasting we made our way back to the villa for supper. I think this is the night I went out in Sesto with three friends: Julian, Nishant, and Andy. We found a cute little place in the middle of the big square in Sesto (called Sesto Pub) with outdoor seating and we sat outside for a while and enjoyed the town.

We went to bed somewhat early as we had a walking tour of Florence with Prof. Mariotti the next day.