September 30, 2008
Our travels through the central part of Italy find us in the walled Tuscan town, Siena. Magnificent! We stumbled on a small hotel in a very old building in the heart of the oldest part of the city. Using a lift (thankfully), we can make it to our 5th floor room with the most incredible view we have had yet. Just outside our room is another splendid old room with a large dome and adjacent solarium complete with pyramid now filled with the lift, but a beautiful reminder of what once was.
Siena is made famous for the yearly horse race around the old city. As a former equestrian, I marvel at the feat and wonder of the bravado that puts man on a horse, bare back at full speed over cobbles covered with a loose cover of dirt. Similar I believe to the running of the bulls. Photo’s on the streets show horse and rider sliding around corners, not always up write in a all’s fair scramble to the finish line.
The city is equally special and unique from other ancient walled towns in Germany or France. Italy is less fussy, where the Germans would lovingly restore its old works with accuracy, Italy tends to patch and fix, just enough to keep something standing. Bricked walls might have rocks or other rubble shoved in to patch a hole. If you see a little fresco, stucco around it and if the marble is not a match, no problem as long as it’s marble. Not true of the churches however, these are often works of art and detail that we have yet to see equaled any where we in Europe. Even the arched entries into the old city have reminders of the works of artists that have been gone for hundreds of years, saved from the ravage of war, weather and time.
Our travels through the central part of Italy find us in the walled Tuscan town, Siena. Magnificent! We stumbled on a small hotel in a very old building in the heart of the oldest part of the city. Using a lift (thankfully), we can make it to our 5th floor room with the most incredible view we have had yet. Just outside our room is another splendid old room with a large dome and adjacent solarium complete with pyramid now filled with the lift, but a beautiful reminder of what once was.
Siena is made famous for the yearly horse race around the old city. As a former equestrian, I marvel at the feat and wonder of the bravado that puts man on a horse, bare back at full speed over cobbles covered with a loose cover of dirt. Similar I believe to the running of the bulls. Photo’s on the streets show horse and rider sliding around corners, not always up write in a all’s fair scramble to the finish line.
The city is equally special and unique from other ancient walled towns in Germany or France. Italy is less fussy, where the Germans would lovingly restore its old works with accuracy, Italy tends to patch and fix, just enough to keep something standing. Bricked walls might have rocks or other rubble shoved in to patch a hole. If you see a little fresco, stucco around it and if the marble is not a match, no problem as long as it’s marble. Not true of the churches however, these are often works of art and detail that we have yet to see equaled any where we in Europe. Even the arched entries into the old city have reminders of the works of artists that have been gone for hundreds of years, saved from the ravage of war, weather and time.
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