When Medieval Equals Pretty

It's been said that Siena is Italy’s prettiest medieval town. If that's not distinction enough, it's on the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites, and out of all the sites in the world, Italy has the most, so Siena is in pretty good company. The city occupies three hills and the town is connected by a maze of alleyways, steep steps and slopes, that if covered with snow, would make a downhill skier salivate.

The heart of the town is the Piazza del Campo best seen in this aerial photo (which I didn't take) and was teeming with people, as you can see in this picture (which I did take)...

We happened upon our second bride of the trip, who was more than happy to honor my request of a picture. Ed thought she was a little emaciated and whispered to me that maybe we should buy her lunch, but I didn't want to ruin her special day by making her have to eat.

After the people fest in the piazza, we wandered through some of those winding alleys...

Turning corners that revealed small ristorantes (and other lost people)...

Stores with delicious displays of meats and cheeses hanging in illuminated windows...

And in their doorway, a teeny baby cinghiale that probably made up some of their tastiest delicacies...

A ring to tie your horse to, perhaps during Il Palio...

And the Red Cross for when that horse breaks free and tramples you...

This is the path we took down (it was very steep)...

And these are the stairs we went up (multiply the amount you see here by 480 and you'll get the amount of steps I had to climb)...

To get to church at the top left corner of this photo. The slope started at the top of the right side of this photo, went down to the center where you can see that open concrete pad, and then the steps went up the other side, above those three little arches. It came out at the top, just below the church where the pointy tree on the right side of the building is...

The best part of Siena to me was not this church, but the amazing Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta (my favorite one of all the churches we saw, including the Vatican) and which I will post about soon.

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1 YEAR AGO: A Great Celebration Of Abundance
2 YEARS AGO: Dormers Of Sweetgrass
3 YEARS AGO: Old Power
4 YEARS AGO: At Your Service
5 YEARS AGO: Clothing Identification 101