Benvenuti!

As a former medieval powerhouse, Siena is the first stop on our tour of Tuscany. Once upon a time (in the 1200s) it was Florence’s rival city, but after the black plague killed off many of its citizens, Florence permanently became the superior city. Still, Siena is still a great place to experience medieval life.

The narrow streets of Siena:

At the heart of the city is Il Campo, a plaza in the center of the city that spreads outward and forms an amphitheater of sorts. Both locals and tourists gather here all day long, and it really becomes packed in the afternoons and evenings.

The highlight of Il Campo is the Palio horse races of the summer, where the 17 neighborhoods of Siena are each represented by one horse and rider in a no-holds barred horse race. While we missed the race by one week, we did see the celebration honoring the winning neighborhood. Il Campo quickly filled up with people our first night there, and we took a seat to watch the craziness unfold.

Different groups and schools and clubs rode by on floats, and at one point a large group of little children monks (or something like that) marched by. They thought it’d be fun to throw hard candy at the spectators, and one landed at our table. To return the favor I thought it’d be fun to throw one back at them, but when I did it accidentally hit one of the mini-monks in the face, who then fell down. Oops. You know what they say: when in Rome…um, take out one of the Romans? (Then make sure to get the heck out of Rome.)

In the final moment of randomness, someone ran by and threw a piece of dry ice into my water.

Tuscan Food

“Farm to table” dining, such a fad at home, is the de facto culture here. All food is local and fresh, and the cuisine is always seasonal. The region’s specialty is wild boar (cinghiale) as is thick spaghetti known as pici, which pair well with each other. Other local specialties include all sorts of cured meats (salumi) and white truffles; upscale restaurants will offer this delicacy by shaving it directly above your pasta. Pricey yet tasty!

By the way, peoples, the pasta photos on the bottom right nearly cost me my life, reputation, and dignity. I wandered into a small pasta shop and started snapping away pics of their exotic pastas. Immediately an angry Italian old man grabbed me and dragged me to another part of the store with a sign that said “No Foto”. I apologized in a mix of English and Spanish (I don’t know, I just did) and started walking out. At the entrance to his shop, just before kicking me out, he loudly and passionately scolded me in Italian, complete with angry hand gestures and probably lots of profanity. My dad accidentally walked into this mess too, and after our 5-minute royal chew out session was over, we both walked away with our heads down in shame…but secretly laughing under our breaths.

Shopping

My dad, brother, and I walked into a shoe store and ended up buying shoes…the same one. All three of us.

(I’m the skinny hairy one.)

This puts that whole Swim Trunk Fiasco to shame.

Welcome to Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance and the cultural capital of Italy. Compared to Siena it’s a much bigger and more bustling city…and much hotter. There’s not a day that passes that I don’t soak my shirt in sweat. And I thought Cuba was bad.

Italian Fashion

People at home routinely mock my impeccable fashion sense. One person in particular, let’s call him Mitul – because, well, that’s his real name – likes to give me grief about the length of my pants, calling them too short. What’s the point of awesome socks if people can’t see them?

Anyway, within my first few minutes of arriving in Florence I saw this dapper guy:

When the town floods, this guy will never need to worry about wet pant legs. I’ll now return back home with renewed confidence, and who knows…I may even let my ankles go commando too.

Uffizi

The Uffizi Gallery is the jewel of Florence’s cultural crown, full of Renaissance art. It is a huge U-shaped gallery on two floors, and it takes several hours to go through it all. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael all have their works displayed here. The artists, not the ninja turtles.

Unfortunately, my knowledge and appreciation for art is limited, but I’ve included some of the more interesting pieces and what I feel their names should be:

“Disco Fever”

“I Should Photoshop His Face”

“Importance of Checking for Diabetic Foot Ulcers”

And finally this one:

Why this painting? It’s not particularly well known, but after 100 paintings it was a refreshing change of subject material. After all, there’s a limit to how many portraits of Madonna, child, or Madonna and child I can handle…

David

We saw the world’s most famous naked man today. The statue David was created by Michelangelo between 1501 and 1504, and represents the biblical hero (as in David and Goliath.) We went to the Galleria dell’Accademia to view it, but after yesterday’s tiring journey inside the Uffizi, we wanted to go straight to the good stuff. Bypassing all other statues, we looked only for these signs:

When we finally reached it, it really was incredible:

Photos never truly reveal the size of this great statue, which is close to 14 feet high. It’s actually quite amazing to think that this was created from a single piece of marble…a mediocre quality one that Michelangelo didn’t even select himself. Most impressive is the anatomic detail (especially considering how it was formed by chipping away with a hammer and chisel), in particular the veins on the back of the hands and arms.

The Uffizi gallery? Meh. But this was absolutely worth it.

No to Mafia

Walking down the street in Florence, I came across this:

I figured I should support them. In general it’s good to adopt a No On Mafia policy.

Favorite Italian Meal

Italian food…I’m sick of it. Really, I just can’t take another spaghettini alla this or pomodoro alla that. While Italian cuisine is tasty, I much prefer flavors that are more powerful and pungent (i.e. the foods I bring to work for my lunches everyday.)

Our last night in Italy, all of us felt the same. Thanks to a quick search online, we were able to eat the best meal of our trip to Italy: chicken tikka masala.