From our base in Florence we ventured out to two additional cities in Tuscany: Pisa, and Siena. You could call this part of our trip, coming in the middle as it does, the Two Towers.
First, Pisa [wikipedia.org]. Of course there was one goal in Pisa, the Leaning Tower [wikipedia.org]. We took the train from Florence and walked to the Piazza del Duomo. The tower is fun to see and to hike up to the top. The slanted stairs make you feel like a drunk as you circle the tower, first leaning to the inside then to the outside of the corridor. After enjoying the view from the top for a while we went into the cathedral.
As I said, the Tower was the only attraction we went to Pisa for. So, after visiting the Tower and Duomo we had an early dinner. Then we took a slow walk back the train station and headed back to Florence.
A few days later we took the train to Siena [wikipedia.org]. As Siena is at the top of steep hill from the train station we took a bus to the old city. Other than just exploring the well preserved midieval city we wanted to climb the Torre del Mangia [wikipedia.org]. To be honest my knees were not looking forward to the 400 or so steps to the top. But, I wanted the photos from the top. Unfortunately, or fortunately if you are my knees, the tower was closed due to high wind.
We didn’t really notice how strong the wind was in the Piazza del Campo where the tower is located, it was a bit windy. But as we made our way to the Siena Cathedral [wikipedia.org], it was obvious why they closed the tower. In the piazza around the Duomo it was almost like a cartoon, leaning into the wind to avoid being blown over; the slight drizzle was turned into horizontal darts of water.
The Duomo in Siena is, I think, one of the more beautiful interiors in Tuscany. It’s just the right blend of the gothic and romanesque styles. It has that multi-colored marble stripes on the columns, and the gothic vaulted ceiling. I love it’s completely not circular dome. But the most interesting part, historically if not visually, is the uncompleted expansion you can see half built in the piazza, the attempted size is stunning. The nave of the current building was going to be the transept of the new one. The plague put an end to that building work, and it was discovered that it had some flaws in it anyway and most probably would have fallen down, so they never finished it even after the plague was over.
Anyway, we wondered around Siena a bit more, saw the home of the oldest surviving bank in the world, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which isn’t much of a tourist site but we did have to walk by it anyway as we wondered around trying to find here to get a bus back to the train station.
So, that was our Tuscany excursions. We didn’t go to San Gimignano or Arezzo or just wonder around the country side. Winter is not really the time to wonder around, Tuscany is justifiable famous for the beautiful countryside but that is more suited for a summer visit.
You can see the whole Pisa, Italy, December 2023 [flickr.com] or Siena, Italy, December 2023 [flickr.com] photosets on Flickr.