Pillar #13: Romans apparently have no concern for March Madness (Veneto/Tuscany Trip Part IV)

Finally, we come to Siena, the de facto climax of our trip due to its location on the long road back to Rome and its complexity within a seemingly simple y-shaped city. Our first order of business was to head to the Campo, the central market and governmental piazza of Siena, and one of the most remarkable public spaces in the world. The city is formed from three neighborhoods at the top of three ridges that merged at a bowl, which eventually became the Campo. It is less like a piazza and more like an outdoor theater due to its shape and orientation towards city hall, which acts as the stage. After a quick walk we got dinner at a restaurant with no menu aside from the owner who rattled off some pasta and meat in Italian, and I ended up with a great dish consisting of a local, fat spaghetti called “pici” with wild boar sauce.

The last day of our trip was finally a beautiful day with highs near 60 degrees, so I left behind several of my usual layers, gloves, and scarf and we headed out to explore the town. Claire and I covered almost the entire town before breaking for lunch in the Campo and climbing the 400 steps of the Campanile to see an amazing view of the town and miles of surrounding countryside. (Florence, you have some explaining to do…)

The best part about Siena was that it felt like a real town and not just a stop on the tour of Italy. Sure, there are the main shopping streets and Campo that attract tourists. I mentioned that the Campo tends to act like a theater, and with a large market on the upper slope plus performers on stilts, jugglers, etc. putting on a show it did just that. The subtle slope makes it very easy to sit, and many were taking advantage of the warm sun by doing just that. We also visited the Duomo at the highest point in the center of town and the three or four other large monastic churches on the edges of town that like Pisa connect physically and symbolically to the landscape. In addition to these larger, more populated areas, there are also smaller, quieter neighborhoods on the ridges where there are families, smaller churches, schools, and other essential community functions. Historically, these were easily identified by the 17 Contrada, or wards, within the city that participate in the annual Palio di Siena. This is the horse race that takes place around the upper part of the Campo which is still a point of great neighborhood pride. If you’ve seen the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace, the opening chase scene ends in Siena during the Palio.

After spending most of the day in Siena, we finally departed for Rome, and were back home around 8:30 pm after the grocery stores were closed. As you can probably imagine, we had little food in the house, and oddly enough, when we went down the hill Sunday afternoon around 1:30 to get groceries, we discovered that all the grocery stores were closed. Determined to find a grocery store and encouraged by the sudden burst of beautiful spring weather (the only March Madness I’ve noticed has nothing to with basketball and everything to do with Romans being out and about in large numbers when the sun is out), we walked into town and finally found an open grocery store. It would seem that Roman Sundays are the opposite of the US, as things are open in the morning and closed afternoons. Also unlike the US, there are plenty of other things besides certain fast food restaurants that shall not be named that are closed all day.

I will get pictures up as soon as I am able, but for now, it's back to the grind...