Return to Siena

We went to Siena during September of 2009 but didn't blog about it. We went back in December 2010 during S's visit. It was a bit chilly and rainy, but we had fun anyway. The city was festively lit up for the holidays. Here's the main square, Piazza del Campo:



That structure is the municipal building, or Palazzo Communale in Italian. Here's what the same place looked like in Sept. 2009:



The other side of Piazza del Campo:



This well-lit tree is in front of Palazzo Salimbeni, headquarters of the bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena. The statue is of Sallustio Bandini, champion of economic freedom.



Siena is known for its horse race or palio, held twice each summer in the Piazza del Campo. The city's neighborhoods, called contrade, compete against each other in the race. Each contrada has its own symbol, flag and colors.

Back in September, the palio was long over, but the flags were still flying.



S identified with the Contrada della Selva, whose symbol is a rhinoceros, a creature which once charged her. (She escaped.)



A symbol of one of the other contrade is the turtle.



Siena is also famous for its cathedral, one of the largest in Italy. It was built in the 12th and 13th centuries. In the September sunlight:



A December detail of the creatures emerging from the facade:



S examines the marble floor design outside the cathedral.



Siena is an interesting and pleasant town for walking. There are lots of pretty little streets and alleys.



Lots of shops have appealing displays.



I'm not so sure about this ham display. It doesn't look so nice with the skin on.



We saw some posters about "the great and magnanimous." Featured luminaries include Roman emperors Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius, Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold the Second, and Nelson Mandela.

Return to Orvieto

Our loyal readers (har har, all two of you) might remember that we visited Orvieto our first summer here.

This December and January we had some visitors and decided to bring them there as well.

This area is known for its ceramics, and S wanted to buy some, so we checked out the shops.



Orvieto has a couple of remarkable wells. This is the San Patrizio Well, built in Renaissance times by architect Antonio da Sangallo the Younger.



There are double-helix staircases leading down, down, down to the bottom.



There are plenty of little shops selling culinary specialties of the region. No lack of pork varieties. (That hairy boar leg looks particulary appetizing, no?)



A poster advertises the Umbria Jazz Festival under a sign describing traffic rules.



We caught some music while walking around town. Check out this marching band, the Fantomatic Orchestra, whose electric guitar player carries his own amp on a shoulder strap.



Hear the Fantomatic Orchestra on this video:



What are these people looking at? If they were a band, this would be the album cover.



Behind them is the view of the countryside from Orvieto's wall:

Snow, no snow

Our friends back in the US have had a snowy winter, snowier than usual.

Here in Rome it doesn't snow much. Last February it snowed for about an hour, and that was the first Roman snow in 25 years, according to the newspapers.

On Dec. 17, it snowed again. As the flakes fell, I happened to be on my way to Italian class, walking through Villa Borghese. Here's what it looked like.



Above: the pond where you can rent rowboats. Below: the archway at the western entrance to Viale dell'Aranceria.



One of many fountains in the park:



A half hour later, it started raining, and all the snow disappeared. It hasn't reappeared since.

The Winter Wonderland of Valnontey

In the region of Valle d'Aosta, in northern Italy, there is a lovely village called Valnontey. We went there after our visit to Torino. It was snowing as we drove up there, and the scene was truly a winter wonderland: powdery white snow resting gently on all the tree branches, dramatic mountains with snow-capped peaks, car slipping despite chains on the tires.



We went for a walk after checking into our hotel, even though it was getting dark. The trail looked like this:



It stopped snowing that evening, and in the morning we saw this:



It's so peaceful here.



This Alpine valley is known for its great cross-country skiing trails, although some of them were blocked off due to avalanches.



It was my first try at cross-country skiing. It's fun and a great workout -- really gets your heart pounding. We paused to rest occasionally.



Although it was in the low 30s, we quickly got warm and found we needed to remove our hats and outer jackets. A fleece was sufficient.



We've now visited all but two of Italy's twenty regions (analagous to states in the US). Regions visited include Valle d'Aosta, Piemonte, Lombardia, Liguria, Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Marche, Umbria, Lazio, Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, and Sicily. The regions that remain are Sardinia (an island just south of Corsica) and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (in the northeastern corner of Italy, next to Slovenia). Stay tuned to find out if we make it to those places!

Two days in Torino

We went up to Torino (Turin) a week and a half ago.

The Egyptian Museum there is world class. We last saw such quality Egyptiana in Cairo.



Below is part of the Book of the Dead, showing the scene where Osiris is getting ready to judge the deceased. The ibis-headed person is Thoth, and the goddess wearing the ostrich feather is Maat.



After lunch, we headed straight for Al Bicerin, a cafe frequented by Nietzsche, Dumas, Puccini, and Italian Risorgimento figure Count Camillo Cavour.



Al Bicerin's signature drink, the Bicerin (how imaginative), is a delicious mixture of espresso, hot chocolate, and cream.



Fortified, we continued our museum crawl. Next up was the National Cinema Museum. It's in the tallest building in Torino, the Mole Antonelliana.



The museum features plenty of movie posters, artifacts like Chaplin's hat, and two big screens showing film clips. There are reclining chairs with speakers in the headrests if you care to watch those clips. The chairs are really comfy to people who have been on their feet all day. The museum is worth visiting only if you've bought the Torino Card, which gives you free admission to a lot of museums and tourist attractions.

Another reason to go to the Mole Antonelliana is to ride the elevator to the top. The elevator goes right up the middle of the building with only cables around it. It was foggy when we went up, so there wasn't much of a view. By the way, this is also included in the Torino Card.



For much of the day, there was some kind of firefighter festival going on in the city's central square. There were activities set up for kids, antique fire engines, and men in capes!



After it had gotten dark, they amped up the show with fire.



The finale was a couple of firefighters rappelling down a building facade while unfurling the Italian flag to a recording of the Italian national anthem. The crowd sang along.

Nearby is the Royal Palace, which housed the royal family of Savoy. They later became the royal family of a united Italy.



Torino is decked out with lights to celebrate the holiday season. Different streets had different light themes. This one's lights resemble constellations.

Road trip north, part 17

This is the 17th and final installment about our road trip north, back in May 2010. Whew, took long enough to post about it.

According to BBC TV's Top Gear, the Stelvio road is one of the best driving roads in the world. Naturally, we had to check it out. When we approached the Stelvio pass, however, we discovered that it was closed to traffic, due to snow. We visited the National Park there instead.

The park is stunning. This lovely clear stream ran alongside a trail.



Here's one of the rocky snow-topped mountains.



As if that wasn't enough, there were also waterfalls.



After leaving the park, we stopped by the side of the road to take more photos. It's just so pretty up there.

Road trip north, part 16

What's more fun than alpine slides? OK, maybe zip lines are close. We were very lucky on this trip to go on not just one, but two rollicking alpine slides.

This one, in Imst, Austria, is called Alpine Coaster. During the winter, this is a ski run. Although I am writing this post in December, we went to Alpine Coaster in May, hence the lack of skiers in the photos. Here's the view from the ski lift:



We watched the riders as we ascended the mountain on the lift. There were many adults as well as kids.



The track weaves in and out of the woods, making for a scenic ride.



We rode in a 2-seater like this one. It was as thrilling as a roller coaster, but with a nicer view.