Siena, Italia

Thurs. April 8th- Livorno, Italia

We were up early at 6:00 A.M. A light breakfast was delivered to our cabin at 6:45 P.M. We went topside to watch the 6:49 A.M. sunrise breaking over the nearby Pisamonte hills. It is from these small range of mountains that the world-famous Cararra marble is quarried. Michaelangelo had been a frequent visitor in the quarries, to select blocks of marble for his sculptings. The Painter, Modigliani, had also been born, here in Livorno, in the early 1800’s. The mysterious Etruscans had established the port and ruled the area from 500 B.C. until the emergence of the Roman Empire in the first century A.D. The Medicis of Florence had captured and ruled the port through the middle ages.

We met in the Stardust lounge on deck #10 and got tickets for our 10-hour tour of the Tuscan Countryside and the fabled walled city of Siena. It is a two hour drive from Livorno. Siena is south and east of Florence, a beautiful city of art and culture that we had already visited and enjoyed on a previous trip. The Pisamonte range hemmed the flat coastal plain into a narrow strip of tillable land, where farmers grew large commercial crops of grapes, sunflower seeds, olives and wheat. Sunny Tuscanny is divided into ten separate regions like, Pisa, Siena, Firenza and others. Elba and several resort islands lie just off the coast. Napoleon had landed nearby to set off on in his brief escape, from exile on Elba.

Marco, our guide, was knowledgeable in the region’s history and commerce. He explained to us that this is in the “chianti” region for wine making. The wine is actually a blend of several types of San Geovese grapes. We were to sample and enjoy several varieties of chianti in the next few days. The olive trees took thirty years to mature enough to yield sufficient fruit for a pressing. This treasured fruit would yield 19 kilograms of oil from every 100 kilograms of olives pressed. The first pressing is the most valued and usually labeled “extra virgin oil.” A killing frost had destroyed much of the local trees in the 1980’s. The newer trees were only now approaching the proper maturity to deliver ripe olives for oil pressing.

As the tour bus careened down the highway, we looked at the pastoral scenes, of groves of olive trees and vineyards, dotting the gently rolling landscape. We enjoyed the sun-dappled visage of a modern day land of milk and honey. It was restful to the eyes. Along the way, Marco pointed out small villages sitting on distant hilltops. Many were small walled villages from the middle ages, replete with castle walls, church and bell tower. I don’t think we, as Americans’ have much of an appreciation for this “quiltwork of principalities” that made up a region, each warring with the other over the ages. It gives rise to our fascination with castles, moats and the whole medieval mythology that surrounds such areas. On one hilltop, we espied the village of Monteregione, with its village wall and twelve turrets rising above the skyline.It is an outline much known in Italy and used on their former currency. We stopped at a road side rest station called “AGIP” where passengers used the facilities and sipped cappuccino for 3 euros each.

Soon enough, we approached Siena. The Etruscans had founded the town in 500 B.C. It had developed and fell to the Romans with the rest of the area in 100 A.D. Siena sits along a well used Roman road that ran from London to Rome. Nearby Florence and the beautiful walled village of San Gimiano also sit on this road and prospered from the pilgrims and commercial traffic that flowed along its length. The Monte Dei Pasche, a commercial banking syndicate of Siena, had also become the bankers for the papal states and collected both interest on their loans and outstanding debts for the popes for centuries. The syndicate was so successful that in later years the Siena City council had mandated that 50% of their annual profits were to be turned over to the city for “public improvements.” The annual rebate now runs to $150 million a year and funds much of the restoration of the medieval town. Tour buses are charged a 100 euro fee to park here in Siena. In Florence it is 300 euros.Tourism is big business in this area.

Marco walked us from the bus parking area to the Chiesa San Domingo where we met our local guide “Rita.” She launched into what was to be a colorful and informed narrative of the Siena’s history and development. Its most famous Saint, Catherine of Siena, had been a dominican nun who was a “close associate” of the reigning pope in Avignon. (Decorum in these matters is always thought polite in Italy.) She had convinced him to end the Avignon reign of the papacy and return the see of the church to Rome. She had been so venerated by the church, that when the Sienese wanted her body interred in the Chiesa San Domingo, Rome had only sent her head and a finger to be buried there, retaining the rest of her remains for veneration in Rome. It all sounds a bit grisly to us now, but it was the time-honored custom of the medieval church in Italy.

We walked through the narrow, cobbled streets and admired the well preserved walls and quaint shops that appeared around every turn. It reminded me of nearby Assisi. We stopped in the Piazza Tolomei, the home of the aforementioned banking syndicate, Monte Dei Pasche. Rita explained to us the significance of several items of interest. You could see the coat of arms of one of the families on the building facade. It held five crescents, symbolizing five separate crusades in the “holy land” that the banking family had fought in and/or financed. It was a mark of great distinction for these families in the middle ages. A column stood in this piazza, atop which is the form of a she wolf, with two infants suckling her. It is an emblem much replicated in Siena. Supposedly Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome who had been suckled by a she wolf, had fled Rome and sought sanctuary in Siena. No one had really ever substantiated the claim, but it made for great symbolism and interest both to the natives and the tourists. I much admire this type of revisionist History. The Russians were to make an art form of it during the twentieth century. Basically, he who writes the history indeed creates it in the image he wishes. It is a concept that gladdens a story teller’s heart.

We walked slowly along the medieval streets, admiring the ancient framing and well preserved architecture. Then, we walked into the small piazza that holds the most prized treasure in Siena, the Duomo Santa Maria d’ Assumption. Finished in the late 1300’s, this Romanesque, white and green striped, marble epiphany, with roseate trim, is impressive. Our eyes feasted over the many statues that rested along its facade and skyline. One large center and two smaller flanking triangles, of painted Murano glass, project colorful scenes of the Virgin Mary. The sunlight, reflecting off of them, gave them a proper celestial appearance. Behind us, in drab architectural counterpoint , was the plain facade of a functioning hospital that had been operating from 1090 A.D. It closed in 1997.

Rita gathered her charges for the inside tour of the Duomo. Michaelangelo had been commissioned (and paid) to create 14 statues for the interior. He delivered only one when the Popes had dragooned him to paint the Sistine Chapel. Even the one marble creation was now a bargain of incalculable value. Raphael had painted several of the interior murals we now enjoyed. On the floor, a series of 56 friezes details the history of Christ and the holy family. An enormous pulpit, of carved, red cedar dominates the central nave of the church. High above us, we could see the carved, marble heads of 156 popes looking down on us. The entire effect of the cathedral is to catch your breath, at the artistic array of creations inside.Each had been created to show glory to god. It sure did keep your attention, as Rita commented quietly on the many artistic and cultural aspects of the works that we were observing. Books have been written describing churches like this, Saint Peter’s and others. If they intrigue you, you will have to go and see them for yourself.

Just next to the Duomo, Rita pointed out an entire area that had been laid out to expand the church. The exterior walls and one facade had already been created when they ran out of money. We walked down a small alley to the heart of Siena, the Piazza Campo. It is shaped like a huge sea shell, with nine sections, one for every town council man. The Piazza is cobbled, and slanted to funnel into a flat area just in front of the Siena City Hall. Around its periphery are a series of hotels, trendy shops and restaurants with awnings and chairs for tourists and Sienans to enjoy the Tuscan sun. Each year, on July 12 and August 16th, a colorful horse race is run around the periphery of this wide Piazza, with ten especially trained horses and jockeys representing parts of the city. It is held in honor of the Virgin Mary and the feast of the Assumption. The rivalry and revelry are considerable and much anticipated by Sienans all year long.

Marco led us to the ancient “Spade Forte” ristorante, on the periphery of the Piazza, for lunch. We fell in with and enjoyed the company of two colorful residents of Celebration, Florida, Pat and John McGoldrick, former Beantown (Boston) residents and fellow Irish Americans. A lively lunch, well seasoned with several flagons of the local Chianti, consisted of pasta and mushrooms in sauce, asparagus risotto, (no carne for four), cheese, green beans and salad,finished off with a ricotta cheese desert that was wonderful and accompanied throughout with aqua frizzante. We enjoyed the McGoldrick’s company and were half lit from the Chianti when we emerged into the central piazza some 90 minutes later. It had been fun.

We still had time left after lunch, so we walked back to the Duomo and, for 6 euros each, entered the Musee d’Opera, next to the Duomo. Ensconced within are all of the original statuary and murals from the exterior of the church.As the marble became worn, throughout the centuries, artisans had replicated the original statuary and remounted them on the facade. Looking at these originals gives you an appreciation for the odd seven hundred years that the place had been around. I am not much taken by religious art, but had to admire the pure artistry in stone so casually laid before us. We walked back to the Piazza Campo and browsed the small shops, enjoying the crowded square like we had all the other meeting places in italy, for the diverse array of people gathering there. Marco had set 3:00 P.M. as a meeting time in one corner of the piazza.

We formed up behind Marco, no one wanted to be left behind. We found and boarded the bus and set off into the back roads of Tuscany. Olive groves, vineyards, quaint villas and bigger farm houses dotted the countryside. We were high in the hills and caught pictorial visages of the valleys surrounding Siena, San Gimiano and the nearby towns. It was a pictorial advertisement for living “under the Tuscan Sun.”

The bus drove by the walled city of San Gimiano and we caught a glimpse of the open gates of what marco called a “medieval disneyland.” It looked like a great place to wander when the crowds were less intense. The ride back was quiet. Some of the older passengers were napping. others like us(not yet so old) were enjoying the scenic countryside and mindful of the ancient cultural heritage treasures that we had just experienced.

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Joseph Xavier Martin