September 9th--School trip to Central Tuscany

The first of five scheduled school trips was intended to expose us students to our new Tuscan surrounding and to provide us with a historical background of the area. We departed at 7:45 AM--the air was crisp, the sky was suspiciously gray, and the students were cranky because of the early departure time. As we drove towards Siena, we were afforded picturesque views of the Tuscan landscape (of which I missed many photo opportunities) however, the excitement of the day's events were lessened when it began to rain heavily. We quickly arrived in Siena and the rain seemed like it was intensifying. We sat in the buses, which were parked at the foot of a huge medieval fortress, hoping that the rain would have mercy on us unsuspecting and unprepared Californians. Alas, mother nature did not feel the need to cooperate and time constraints finally forced us to begin our tour. Eager vendors were waiting outside our bus selling cheap umbrellas. I was wishing that someone was selling rainboots because I was wearing open-toed, low heels!

We scaled the massive walls of the fortress, dodging puddles and huddling under umbrellas. We entered the partly-walled town of Siena at the absolute height of the rainfall. I don't think I have ever experienced such an intense rainfall, which scares me because it was only September and I am certain the worst is yet to come. With our feet soaking in rainwater, we laughed at the absurdity of the situation and blindly followed our tour guide through the beautiful city. We finally walked down a very narrow and highly down-graded street to find ourselves at the Piazza del Campo--the city's shell-shaped center, constructed in the 12th century.

The Palazzo Pubblico, the picture with the tall bell tower, was constructed in 1342 and is the second highest medieval tower ever built in Italy. The Gothic building was constructed as the town hall, which it still serves as today, however, there is also a relatively small museum inside, which served as a perfect shelter from the rain. To us, the Museo Civico and Palazzo Pubblico were highly regarded for the warmth and shelter they provided us, but to most it, they are well-known for housing a set of frescos by Ambrosio Lorenzetti, which were completed in the 14th century just before the Black Death stunted the prosperity of the town. The frescoes, named Allegory of Good and Bad Government, are important because they are one of the few secular paintings from the Middle Ages. They are located in the medieval "state room"--in which governmental business took place--and the paintings served as a reminder of the important role the men had. One part of the frescoes shows a thriving and ideal city thanks to the propriety of its government, while the other depicts a chaotic and dirty city which reflects its poor governing body. There were many other fascinating and beautiful medieval works in the museum but we soon found ourselves back out in the rain on the way to the city's duomo, or cathedral.

A quick note on "duomos" first...many people believe that duomo means "dome" in Italian, but this is not the case. Although many duomos have amazing domes, or cupolas, the term duomo comes from Latin domus dei, which means "house of God." These days, duomo signifies a town's cathedral.

The duomo of Siena is a prime example of Gothic architecture--no area is left uncarved, unadorned, or unpainted, be it the walls, the corners, the facade, the ceiling, and most impressively, the floor. Construction of the duomo began in 1136 and was abandoned in then 1300s after the town lost one-third of it's population to the Plague. Prior to the eruption of the Black Death, the town was thriving and had planned to expand the cathedral to make it the largest Christian church and you can still see the remains of the expansion project.(below)

When you are outside of the duomo, you are overwhelmed by it's size and most distinctly by the alternating black and white marble stripes. The overly ornate exterior was only the beginning of the visual menagerie that is this Gothic duomo--the interior surpassed any and all prior examples I have witness of the Gothic! The exquisite, marble-inlay, carved floor; the elaborate pulpit; the stunning navy blue and gold copula; the library, which houses illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages, and it's luminous frescoes; and the numerous altars,
each with their own individual charm and grandeur. In this church is where I finally fulfilled a long-standing inside joke, which only a few will understand (and love) so forgive the digression, but I lit a candle for Little Bucket.

After taking in the majesty of Siena's duomo, we headed back to the bus along the same treacherous, puddle-filled route. After we scampered onto the bus like the wet dogs we were, the bus ventured onward to Monteriggioni, a Sienese hillside town which has one of the most well-preserved medieval city wall and towers. As we hiked up to the town, the sun began to break through the clouds! Our stop at Monteriggioni was intended as our lunch hour, so we flocked to the nearest bars. In Italy, a bar is an establishment much like our coffee shops back at home.
They are known more for selling sandwiches and coffee, not alcohol. I got the most delicious cafe latte to warm myself and then went to explore the town. In minutes, we walked from the east entrance to the town, to the west entrance, which I found to be quite scary. The picture which shows the archway and the steep walkway doesn't look so scary when you are looking up at it, however, when you go down that pathway, in low heels, 15 minutes after a huge rainstorm, it is very scary! The path is so steep that they created this miniature step system to prevent people from slipping and falling...it looks much more scary in the second picture, yes?

One of the interesting facts about Monteriggioni is that it is well-known for having an almost perfectly circular city walls. So much that Dante used the town as a simile for the abyss at the heart of his Inferno. He compares Monteriggioni's "ring shaped citadel [...]crowned with towers" to giants standing in a moat in the 9th circle (Canto XXXI, if anyone wants to check it out).

After we all filled our stomachs with food and our minds with images of the town in it's full glory during the Middle Ages, we boarded the bus and headed towards San Gimignano. Another walled town on a hill, but more lively and with current residents. The area surrounding the town is beautiful and stereotypical of the Tuscan region.
Naturally, we stopped several minutes to capture the scene with our cameras and to embarrassingly pose for "Hi Mom" pictures. San Gimignano is a popular tourist destination today because of it's medieval charm, because it's businesses cater to tourists, and because it has many tall towers, dating from the 13th century. The towers, 14 of which are still standing of the original 76, served as private fortresses for the town's wealthy families, but they also served as a symbol for the family's power. I spent most of my time there trying to not get ran over by the hoards of tour groups.


Lastly, we went headed to our final stop, which was also the most anticipated because it included a full-blown Tuscan dinner! Our final stop of the night was at the former country home of Niccolo Machiavelli, the scholar and writer who is often regarded as the founder of political science. Country home is kind of a euphemism for "the home in the country to which he was pretty much exiled as a result of his radical ideas." In this country house, he wrote his most famous work, The Prince, which he dedicated to one of the powerful Medicis as a suck up ploy to gain social and scholarly status in Florence. It worked and Machiavelli no longer had to reside in the country. Today, the home is a miniature museum and also a wine cellar, where they produce "Machiavelli" brand wine.

We walked across the street to the neighboring inn, of which Machiavelli was a faithful patron. There we were given an informative presentation on the scholar and the country house and it's significance. I liked the copy of one of Machiavelli's correspondences in which he discussed his newfound provincial lifestyle.
It starts, "...I am in the country..." and tells about his daily life, which involves daily chores and daily arguments with the innkeeper across the way. He writes:

wallowing in all this lousiness, I keep the mould from my brains, and vent my rage against the malice of my fate [...] [w]hen evening comes, I return home
and enter my study; and on the threshold I doff those everyday clothes of
mine, all mud and filth, and don royal and courtly robes; and thus decently
attired, I enter the ancient courts of ancient men, where lovingly received
by them, I nourish myself with the food that alone is mine and that I was
born for [...] and for four hours I feel no boredom, I forget every worry, I
don't dread poverty, nor has death any terrors for me: I transfuse myself
entirely into them. And since, as Dante says, there is no science without
the retention of what is learnt, I have noted down what I have treasured of
their conversation, and composed a pamphlet: On princedoms, in which I
plunge as deep as I can into reflections on this subject, discussing what
princedoms are, of how many kinds, how acquired, how kept, why lost.
--from a letter dated December 10, 1513 to Francesco Vettori

After feeding our brains, we went to the upstairs dining rooms and prepared to feed our bodies delicious Tuscan food. We enjoyed a long, 5 course dinner, drank wine, and reflected on the day. About half of the students (not including me!) were purchasing bottles of disgusting table wine at the "Machiavelli" winery and drinking them with dinner. Therefore, about half of the students were completely drunk for the 40 minute bus ride home, which of course, made the evening more interesting. The bus was transformed from our rain safe-haven to the party bus. We sang along to cheesy songs (like "Hotel California" and some Prince songs) and when good ones came on, people felt the need to get up and dance in the aisle. It was very entertaining and promising to see everyone getting along so well.

When we got back to school it was after 11pm. Remember, this trip started before 8am, so we were exhausted. We ran back to our Italian apartments and slept sweetly.