Who needs a beach when we have Piazza del Campo?

I’m not lying. If you are a beach person, consider studying in Siena. Now that April is here, the warm weather has arrived. What that means is that by day the Piazza del Campo is packed with locals, university students, school groups and tour groups, napping, chatting, people watching and, most importantly, soaking up the sun. In fact, I’m not ashamed to say that on Tuesdays, my day off from classes, I happily spend my day away sitting in the sun reading, sketching, and even photographing some of the characters I often spot, only getting up for my afternoon gelato.

Spring break was two weeks ago and everyone returned from successful trips—to London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Madrid, Seville, Barcelona and Lisbon. I, however, stayed in Italy because my mom came to visit! We spent the first half of the break in Rome, which, in short, is a spectacular city. Indeed, Rome has all the trappings of a modern metropolis; yet, around every corner is some crumbling reminder of the ancient world or some elegant marble fountain. Of course, the food is unreal: don’t go to Rome without trying the Gnocchi and the Carbonara. But most of all, you absolutely must get some Roman gelato, especially at Gelateria Giolitti near the Pantheon. You won’t be disappointed.

Other Rome highlights? Obviously the Colosseum, the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill, and the Pantheon are all unreal. But I also really enjoyed the Bernini sculptures and Caravaggio paintings at Galleria Borghese (reservations needed), the street performers and artists in La Piazza Navona, the shopping in Trastavere, and the delicious food in Rome’s Jewish Ghetto.

After getting our fill of the city, my mom and I retreated to the Tuscan countryside, first making a two day stop at home in Siena. No trip to Siena is complete without being blown away by the sheer beauty, elegance, and wealth displayed by Siena’s medieval cathedral or without spending a couple hours people-watching in the Campo—so we did both. We also had (excuse me for returning to the topic of food) the most fantastic dinner at Siena’s Taverna di San Giuseppe. We sampled some hearty Tuscan classics like Ribolitta Soup as well as out-of-this-world homemade tiramisu. This restaurant is a must.

Last stop: Cortona. Yes, yes, the town from the famed Under the Tuscan Sun. But, it turns out, Cortona is deserving of its reputation: literally built on a mountainside, Cortona, a tiny city of 2,000 (and very welcoming) people, offers the best views of stereotypical Tuscan countryside. We topped off the Tuscan experience by getting a tour guide to take us to a nearby vineyard to taste some Nobile di Montepulciano (the famous wine of the Montepulciano region.) After, we took a drive through the country to the equally picturesque town of Montepulciano (where Twilight was filmed…cool, eh?)

Last weekend everyone opted to stay in Siena to recover from our weeks spent traveling. But the great thing about Siena is, though a small city, the main streets in the historical center are always packed and buzzing with tourists and locals alike. And if you need to get a break from the crowds, in just a few minutes, it’s easy to stumble across one of Siena’s quiet and quaint residential neighborhoods. What’s more is that Siena has lots of hidden treasures that day-trippers rarely see, such as botanical gardens, the Medici fortress, the Orto de' Pecci park, and a swanky tearoom.

The highlight of the weekend, however, was a birthday bash for one of the girls. We had a potluck dinner and the whole group attended. I am proud to say I successfully made Pici con Cacio e Pepe (a Sienese favorite.) It was great to the have the whole program together and, what’s more, we had some complimentary music from a practicing Lupa Contrada (“Wolf Contrada”—one of Siena’s neighborhoods that participates in the annual Palio) drummer outside. Only in Siena.

I think that wraps things up for now. Tomorrow I am going to Florence for the entire day on a field trip with my Imagery and Public Space class. And then on Saturday we are all very excited for our program-run bike tour in the countryside! It should be a blast.

Hannah Zweifler, Bates College

CET Siena Student Correspondent, Spring ‘11

Montepulciano: Great Place to Visit, If You Can Figure Out How to Get There

A few weeks ago before Spring Break, I took a day-trip with some friends to see Montepulciano, the picturesque Italian town located at the top of a hill about an hour from Siena. Here’s what went wrong: we decided to go in the middle of a holiday weekend celebrating the 150^th Anniversary of Italy’s Unification and while there didn’t appear to be transportation problems in Siena, we got off the train in Montepulciano to find the station itself closed, taxi drivers on their break and the bus on a very limited schedule. It’s here that I should probably mention that the Montepulciano train station is 9km away, or about 5.5 miles from the actual city, which is again located at the top of a hill. We wandered around the little residential area near the station looking for something to be open so we might find out how to get up the hill, but after nearly an hour, our knight in shining blue amour arrived in the form of a SITA bus which took us to the station just outside the city’s walls.

The views on the ride up the winding streets and hillside toward Montepulciano are simply breathtaking. The town, now popular with teenage girls for being one of the filming locations for the movie Twilight: New Moon, is very tiny, with only one main commercial road and square. We stopped for a leisurely lunch upon arriving at the main square and we were treated to this unbelievable view while eating what were quite possibly the best tomatoes I’ve ever had in my life and sharing a bottle of the town’s world-renowned Vino Nobile wine.

Following lunch, it was time to do some exploring, which included a visit to the Santa Maria delle Grazie church and then over to see this palace not far from the church, which was sadly closed, but had this little playground in its semi-formal garden. There, we returned to our youths and went swinging for about twenty minutes.

Returning to the age of now, we slowly meandered our way down the hill toward the SITA station, popping in and out of little shops and gelaterias. Since this was after all the 150^th anniversary of Italy’s Unification, there were Italian-flag themed items everywhere. My personal favorites were the green, white and red pairs of shoes and the green, white and red painted bottles of wine that were arranged to look like they were arranged to look as if they made up one half of a double helix. I thought it was wonderful.

By the time we reached the main gate into Montepulciano, the sun was beginning to set and it was time for us to start making our way back to Siena. A quick stop off at the Conad to pick up snacks and then a short walk to the SITA station later, we were on our bus and all dozing off to sleep or reading after a long day. Fortunately, a kind lady on the bus who had heard us talking about getting back to Siena helped us realize that we were not actually changing buses at a station, but instead at a stop on the side of the road. Those were an interesting twenty minutes as we all stood there in the growing cold wondering if our bus would ever show up.

Montepulciano is one of those places you imagine all of Tuscany looks like; it has the views you see in movies, read about in books and about which you daydream. As with all picturesque places, getting there is never easy, but the payoff is more than well worth it.

John David Quate

CET Siena Student Correspondent, Spring '11