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Siena → Pisa → Collodi → Florence 162.6 mi (261.6 km) |
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Buongiorno, tutti!
I think Italy is taking a hold of me, because I didn’t jump up at 6:00 AM to cover ground in Tuscany. Oh no, I rolled out of bed and headed right downstairs, because the Hotel Santa Caterina in Siena is not the sort of place you snooze and cruise!
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The breakfast spread of croissants and jam, cheese and mixed nuts, and bowls of fruit and yogurt was well worth the delay, and the garden view filled my heart while I filled my belly!
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How can you not dream the day away gazing out at this view of the Tuscan countryside?! I very nearly did, but there are only so many hours in the day, and I had so much to see and do!
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First off, I had to walk off breakfast by strolling into historic Siena, the capital of Tuscany! The entrance to this storied city runs through the Porta Romana, which dates back to 1328!
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Once inside the Porta, the narrow streets wound past stacked apartments and shops, most of them still a-snooze on this Saturday morning. The slow start is what makes a morning stroll through Siena feel super serene!
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At the city’s heart lies the Piazza del Campo, recognized by UNESCO as the core of a city that has not only maintained its Gothic architecture to an incredible degree, but has also had a major impact on town planning and art throughout Europe!
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Today, as it was last night, the Piazza del Campo is a great place to enjoy a gelato while watching the people, the dogs, and of course, the gleefully swooping swallows whirling around the Campanile!
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Not far away stands the breathtaking Duomo of Siena, hard to photograph in its entirety because it’s in such a confined space, but nevertheless extraordinary to behold in all its stripey splendor! Built between 1215 and 1263 AD, its black and white marble stripes commemorate the black and white horses of Siena’s legendary founders, Senius and Aschius! Rumor has it that they were the sons of Remus and nephews of Rome’s founder, Romulus!
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Around 9:00, the crowds started to fill in, so I started to file out. I anticipated more crowds at the next stop on my Tuscan tour, but when I arrived in Pisa, they were not nearly as crushing as I imagined! There stood the Romanesque Duomo of Pisa, built in 1063 using the spoils of war against Muslim inhabitants of Sicily! But beyond the Duomo stood (mostly) the city’s biggest attraction, and indeed, one of Italy’s most prominent symbols!
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The Torre Pendente, known to English speakers as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, was built as a bell tower for the Duomo between 1173 and 1370 AD. Unfortunately, the designers set it on really unstable soil, so around 1178, the tower started to lean! The only thing that saved it was a century of war with the surrounding kingdoms of Genoa, Lucca, and Florence, which halted construction and allowed the foundation to settle. Like the Piazza del Campo in Siena, the most entertaining part of visiting the Leaning Tower is watching all the folks from around the world taking the same kind of photo: holding up the Leaning Tower!
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It was starting to get toasty in the middle of Pisa, so I decided to head somewhere with a little more breeze and a little more shade. In this case, my destination was the mountainous town of Collodi, the famed birthplace of Pinocchio and home to the world’s tallest statue (52 and a half feet) of the wooden puppet brought to life by magic!
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There is a theme park here dedicated to the tale of Pinocchio, but it seemed very popular on this spring afternoon. I decided instead to take a hike up the steep hills to the Castello Collodi, built right on the border between two of Pisa’s rival kingdoms, Lucca and Florence!
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I was really astonished that there were still people living on these super steep hills, criss-crossed with narrow alleyways. I had to take a breather in the courtyard of the Pieve di San Bartolomeo, built in the early 12th century to honor the city’s patron, the apostle St. Bartholomew. Each year, Collodi puts on a festival to honor their patron saint, but I was a few months too early to partake!
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A little further up, and I beheld the watchtower of the old castle, called La Rocca Antica! It stands as a reminder of the ancient conflict between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, first from 1125–1186 and then from 1216–1392. The Guelphs supported the political authority of the Pope, while the Ghibellines supported the Holy Roman Emperor. It was the Guelphs of Pescia that chased out the Garzoni family, who settled here in the mountains of Lucca and developed the town of Collodi!
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Gravity carried me right back down the slopes of the old castle, and a rough dirt road took me to my last stop between Siena and Florence: the Oak of the Witches! Over 600 years old, this humongous oak took its name from the rumor that witches used to dance among its branches and made them flat! It inspired Carlo Collodi to write about huge trees in Pinocchio, and today, it’s still a gathering point for picnickers, bibliophiles, and even Tai Chi associations!
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Yesterday, I’d had every intention of visiting the town of Vinci, birthplace of Leonardo, during the 500th anniversary commemoration of his death, but by the time I had finished up at the Oak, the museum in Vinci had closed. So, I continued further to the city of Florence to check in at La Farina Apartments and hustle to the day’s final destination before it closed!
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But first, check out the amazing interior of my apartment! I could have based out of here for weeks, cooking my own meals and reveling in the views out the window! This was one of those moments when I wished I had more time and resources to really explore places in the depth they deserve, but time waits for no beaver, and the Giardino dell’Iris was slated to close in less than an hour!
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I set off on foot from the apartment, following a very useful map that the concierge had provided, crossed the Rio Arno, schlepped up the hill to the Piazza Michelangelo, and arrived at my preview point for the birthplace of the Renaissance, Il Giardino dell’Iris!
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La Società Italiana dell’Iris created this garden in 1957 as a place both to honor the flamboyant fiore and to host an annual International Competition to see who grows the best of over 1500 hybrid bearded irises!
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Even though Florence is sometimes called the City of Lilies, and the “lis” in “fleur-de-lis” means lily in French, the famed red flower on its crest is actually an iris! It may have gotten its name from the River Leie in Flanders, the Lys valley between France and Belgium, or the German name for the iris, Leisch! Either way, this flower has been an integral part of Florentine identity since at least 1251!
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I came to the Iris Garden with the full intent to celebrate Firstbud by the small pond that I expected to be surrounded by glorious flowers. Unfortunately, it was still early in the season, and I got one. It was a subdued Florentine frolic.
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So, I didn’t spend much time frolicking at the pond. Instead, I went to explore the other irises and promptly got in trouble with one of the volunteers for getting too close to some of them. The irises are very delicate, she said, and the growers had too much riding on their success to risk damage from irresponsible selfies or collapsing signs! In short, photos like the one below were right out of the question!
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Not wanting to upset any iris growers, I made sure to keep a safe distance as I wandered the garden up until closure. The irises here, though still growing to their full bloom, framed by native olive trees, were well worth observing from any distance!
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When the garden closed at 5:30, visitors funneled out to the Piazzale Michelangelo, the most famous viewpoint over the City of Florence. Here, I settled in to watch the sunset over the distant Duomo and the amazing history I plan to explore tomorrow.
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From this point, I learned three valuable lessons. One, you can always pick out the Americans in a crowd abroad when someone starts playing Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond. Two, the south side of the Arno River is considered the more authentic when looking for places to eat. Three, if you want enough Italian cheese to last a week, try the cheesy gnocchi at Osteria Santo Spirito at the Piazza Santo Spirito. That dinner left me rolling back to the apartment!
A domani!
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Total Ground Covered: 384.8 mi (619.2 km) |
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