After our coffee break and refueling station we headed off to Piazza Del Duomo. There we go to go into the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, the crypt, the baptistry and the cathedral. Inside the Museo, Mauro talked with us about Duccio's very famous panels that used to be inside the Cathedral. They were gorgeous, and so detailed. Here we learned about Siena as a city, and we also learned about the differences between Florentine and Sienese art, which we were able to see clearly after entering the Cathedral and comparing its interior to the Cathedral of Florence. Florence's Santa Maria del Fiore is BARE on the inside, with a a few monumental frescoes, where as Siena's Cathedral has not one bare wall, and is so intricate with every detail.
We also got to climb a section of a wall that was built to be an additional church in the Piazza, but they never actually completed it. Looking at the section of the wall which we were able to climb you could see the outline of a second church appearing. The central nave and two side aisle. What was finished was done in such detail, that there was not enough time for the completion of such a large project.
After we explored the Piazza del Duomo we had free time until we were to meet Maura at Piazza del Campo at 3:30. It was 2:00, so a few of us went to go find a cheap Pizza a Taglio place to eat. We found one that was sufficient after walking for 10-15 minutes. There I got a piece of Margherita for 1.40euro and a piece of pizza, that had two sides so it was closed, containing zucchini, mozzarella and prosciutto for 1.50. I had brought a water, so my lunch was only 2.90 euro to be VERY PIENO! After lunch we went back to A. Nannini to get a pick me up before Mauro's next lecture. I had a frothy delicious Cappuccino, and relaxed for a little bit until Acca wanted to fill his Gelato need. We walked around for a little, Acca and others got Gelato then we headed toward Piazza del Campo to meet Mauro and go into the Political Center.
We learned a lot inside the Political Center, it was very beautiful obviously. And we were free to return to Florence after he was done lecturing. I wish it hadn't been raining because I could have walked that city up and down multiple times because its just so beautiful. I had also wanted to go into the Church of San Domenico to see the relics of St. Catherine, but no one wanted to so we just went to the bus stop and headed back to florence!
While it took us an hour to get to Siena, it took us 2 hours to return to florence because of the traffic. By the time Sam and I got home we were so sick of sitting around in traffic, and we were hungry. Thank goodness Claudia was getting dinner ready for us, and the smell was keeping us alive! She made us a delicious soup that was perfect for the wet, cold day. And for dessert she made these little whole grain biscotti, using the ghiridelli chocolate chips I had brought for her. THEY WERE SOOO GOOD. And I got to eat as many as I wanted because they were "healthy!" No butter used at all, and whole wheat flour and grains! After dinner I was beat, so I watched New Moon in bed then fell fast asleep, preparing to wake up at 6:00am, to get to SMN by 7:30 to meet up with Tall Luca our Florence For Fun tour guide, who would be taking us to Chianti!
6:00am we woke up, got ready, ate breakfast and then went out to the bus stop nice and early because we had been having very bad luck with the number 4 bus arriving on time. It made us late ALL week! Well almost late, but gave me a LOT of anxiety, and I don't need anymore of that.
So the bus arrived on time... Figures. So we got to SMN 23 minutes early and just sat there waiting to see this "Tall Luca" who would be our tour guide. Around 7:30 we found him and the rest of our group who we thought would be students, but was actually a variety of different ages, which I was kinda happy about because older people are very entertaining (Zizi Linda).
We got on a bus as a group and headed to the small town of Greve in Chianti. There we stopped for coffee, pastries and the bathroom then we commenced on a steep hike up to the top of the small hill town. My legs were BURNING, but it was well worth the vista and the tiny little town atop the hill. We spent some time discussing grapes and wine, and the culture and work in Chianti then we headed back down to the base town where they took us to a very large and famous wine shop.
Inside there were so many different wines you could taste and it was set up so modernly. They had some sort of tap for each bottle of wine, which were placed 15 or 20 at a circular table, which there were about 6 or 7 of, then you could swipe a card that had money on it and it would pour you a glass of wine. Very cool! We had free time in the town for a little while, then we met back at the bus stop to take the bus up to Panzano where the real wine tasting at the Villa would occur.
We went to the Sassolini Family Villa, right in the center of the historic Panzano. Because of the wet ground our wine tasting and lunch was inside the villa at a large dining room table that looked out two large doors onto the front yard of the Villa. We obviously needed to use the bathroom right as we arrived, so Tall Luca pointed us in the right direction. Waiting outside the bathroom door the hallway was filled with old trinkets. There were two very large cabinets with probably 12 shelves each, shoved with perfectly aligned little toy soldiers. There must have been thousands of them in the cabinets. There were also bones of animals, and animal heads, and a suit of armor. So waiting in line for ten minutes for the bathroom wasn't a problem even though I had to go really bad, because the hall way was just so fascinating.
After the bathroom we got ourselves situated at the long table that fit the entire tour group, and we prepared our stomachs and our taste buds for the incoming wine and food. First served were crostini with olive oil that were simply delicious. They served us the first wine and then brought out bread and two platters of prosciutto and salami. The cold cuts were fantastic, I downed a few pieces and laid off the bread. They then served the next wine, and a vat of pasta al pesto. We all took as much as we could because we thought that was it for the lunch, and boy it was good. Thankfully, as they served the third wine they brought out another vat of pasta. The Villa owner and wine maker tried to describe the sauce and said it was made with Noce, good thing Sam and I had just had a lesson on kinds of nuts at the dinner table the night before, so we knew right away that it was a WALNUT SAUCE! This pasta was my favorite I had had all term. It was perfectly al dente, the walnut sauce was amazing, and the third wine complemented it very nicely.
We were a little tipsy and full after the third, in fear of the fourth wine to come we headed out to the garden to explore the front of the Villa and soak up a little bit of the sun. There was a green house stuffed with lemon and orange trees that Luca made me walk in to smell the intense aroma. It was the perfect relaxing afternoon with the right complement of food and wine.
I went back into the Villa and found all the older people of the group and started chatting with some of them. One of the men was a professor from George Mason here with 15 students and his wife and 10 month old baby girl Estella. She was so precious. It was rather entertaining because his wife was pretty drunk and was attempting to say whatever she could in Italian and was being very into it with her accent and hand motions, so it was quite entertaining as she imitated how she thought Tall Luca presented each of the bottles of wine and explained it.
While most people were still outside, the group inside inquired about the 4th wine, so he gave us all a try of that one. Which happened to be my favorite. Luca went out to find the others, slowly they all began to trickle back inside, and the wine producer took out the Vin Santo and Biscotti, not giving the 4th wine to the rest who were outside (I was lucky!). So naturally the Vin Santo was pretty bad, but the Biscotti was so good so I was fine just eating those. Then the Grappa came out. I took one whif and almost threw up so I found it wise to not try it. I let it touch the side of the shot glass and I licked that, and it was just awful. I can't imagine people actually drinking that daily after their dinner. YUCK!
After all of that we had the opportunity to buy his wine. I got a bottle of the 4th one because it was only 6 euro and was my favorite... I plan to bring it to Via Muto for all to try come June (if it fits in my luggage). Then we had free time for an hour to roam the town of Panzano.
Anna and I set off up the hill toward the church. We went past the famous butchery and went inside briefly, but we didn't see the famous butcher himself. We climbed toward the church, went inside then walked around the outskirts of the town, noticing that they were setting up for some kind of festa. I was a little jealous cause I have been missing the constant festas of the summer, but was reminded La Notte Bianca is friday so that will be a great festa and a little taste of the summer and whats to come!
Around 5 we headed back on the bus to Florence. Got home around 6:20 relaxed our legs and got excited for dinner. We had raw vegetables to dip in our oil and vinegar mixtures, fish and salad. And for dessert Claudia let us try some of her candied orange rinds that she had been putting tedious effort into the past two days. That woman is crazyyyyy, and a crazy good chef too!
Sam and I had originally wanted to go out, but no one else was so we decided against it and got a good nights sleep.
Sunday I woke up and walked to the Horticultural Garden where there was a flower market for the week. It was funny walking there and seeing all different kinds of people walking around with different large flower bushes through the city. I stayed there for a little while watching all the hustle and bustle then ran into Acca, and we both set off toward Palazzo Pitti.
We cut the huge long line at the Palazzo Pitti by going in the back entrance of the Boboli Gardens, thank god it was the last day of Free museum week. We walked throughout the palace, me looking for Caravaggio's Amore Dormiente. When I finally found it, I found myself staring at a gorgeously intricate frame labelled Amore Dormiente, with nothing inside. FIGURES!
After walking throughout the entire palace our stomachs were rumbling, so we crossed our fingers and walked toward Gustapanino, hoping that they had reopened. WE WE'RE IN LUCK! Gustapanino was open, remodeled and still selling the same good quality and good priced paninos. It made our day. As we sat eating our paninos on the steps of Santo Spirito we saw a group of people sprinting toward the doors of Gustapanino clearly ecstatic that it was open and we realized it was Jackie, Anna, Sam, Cristi and Avery. They ate their paninos and then we all headed to the boboli gardens to relax for the afternoon. It was a great day, beautiful and relaxing. We headed home around 5, relaxed in the coolness of the house for a little, showered, did a little work and then got excited for dinner.
Dinner was a delicious eggplant parmesan that was kinda soupy, but the best I have ever had. I ate A LOT of it and skipped out on the chocolate and candied orange rinds for dessert and the gelato. After dinner I ended up going downtown and meeting Anna outside SMN. We walked to Piazza della Republica where we stopped to listen to a very talented opera singer. We then went to find gelato. We went to the place Benjamin took us for Cassie's birthday which was a great bang for your buck. I got stratciatella and cafe, SO GOOD. And Anna made the award winning combo of Mango and Yogurt. So now I have to return there and get that at some point because it was just TOO good.
I caught the bus back home, content to go to bed and have a good start to the new week!
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