Load the bus in Florence at 7:30 for our Tuscany Adventure
First stop Sienna
Siena was an important city in medieval Europe, and its historic centre is a UNRSCO World Heritage site which contains several buildings from the 13th and 14th centuries. The city is famous for its cuisine, art and museums, medieval cityscape and the Palio, a horse race held twice a year in Piazza de Campo.
The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking centre until the 13th and 14th centuries. Siena is also home to the oldest bank in the world, the Monte dei Paschi, which has been operating continuously since 1472 (554 years ago).
The rest is pictures paint a thousand words…
Neighborhood Boy
And our first gatto
Meet our guide for our next stop, wine tasting, balsamic tasting & lunch at Poggio ai Laghi
Time for pasta
Yummy balsamic with a kick 666
All locally grown, all organic and all natural. A special experience in Tuscany with excellent Chianti
On to San Gimignano, a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Five Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of its tower houses, which, with its hilltop setting and encircling walls, form “an unforgettable skyline”. Within the walls, the well-preserved buildings include notable examples of both Romanesque and Gothic architecture, with outstanding examples of secular buildings as well as churches. The Palazzo Comunale, the Collegiata and Church of Sant’Agostino contain frescos, including cycles dating from the 14th and 15th centuries. The “Historic Centre of San Gimignano” is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town is also known for saffron, its dry-aged and saffron infused Golden Ham, pecorino cheese, and local white wine – Vernaccia di San Gimignano – produced from the ancient variety of Vernaccia grape grown on the sandstone hillsides of the area.
Best gelato in the world
Absolutely stunning…Tuscany 🇮🇹
It’s hitting 100 today with humidity to match. We’re drinking water and using the fountains to keep cool. Plus we have these awesome lil fans.
Next stop Pisa. Our guide offered an alternative to walking another mile from the bus parking lot. We’re so in
The Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), officially Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square), is the beating heart of Pisa and one of the world’s most famous monumental squares. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it gathers, on a single, evocative green lawn, the masterpieces that bear witness to the peak of the Maritime Republic of Pisa between the 11th and 13th centuries: the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta (with the iconic Leaning Tower attached), the Baptistery, and the Monumental Cemetery (Camposanto Monumentale).
The leaning Tower of Pisa is known for its nearly four-degree lean, the result of an unstable foundation.
In the 1173 work began on the foundation of the cathedral’s bell tower. It is about 56 meters high and weighs 14,453 tons.
Its construction probably began under the direction of Diotisalvi, the same architect who began building the Baptistery. The works were interrupted after the third ring due to the subsidence of the land, because in ancient times the Auser river used to flow in this area. The building was completed in the mid-fourteenth century, when the belfry was added. The basin around at the bottom of the Tower was added in the 19th-century addition.
The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta
Pisa’s Cathedral is the temple of pure white marble, constructed starting from 1064, an emblem of the Pisan Romanesque style. The project was conceived by the architect Buscheto, with work concluded by Rainaldo in the middle of the following century.
In addition to the majestic exterior, enriched with architectural elements in polychrome marble and inlays that evoke classical, Byzantine, and Islamic art, the interior housed works of inestimable value. Among these, the Door of San Ranieri stands out, a bronze masterpiece by the master Bonanno Pisano, dating back to around 1180 (today replaced by a copy, the original is located at the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo).
The Baptistery: Art and Architecture
The Baptistery of Pisa, dedicated to Saint John, is the largest baptismal structure in Italy, an imposing building that combines the lower Romanesque style with the upper Gothic decoration, which was begun by Nicola Pisano and continued by his son Giovanni Pisano.
Nicola Pisano, considered one of the fathers of Italian figurative language, started the sculptural cycle that decorates the exterior of the Baptistery (as evidenced by an inscription from 1278), the original sculptures of which can be admired at the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. Upon his death, Giovanni Pisano took over the direction, creating the Gothic loggia. The Pisano workshop produced statues such as the famous Ballerina (Dancer), which conveys a dynamism unprecedented for the 13th century, and the two splendid Teste (Heads) attributed to Nicola.
The architectural and decorative complex of the Piazza del Duomo, built at the peak of Pisan power, also welcomed and integrated artifacts from beyond the Mediterranean, testifying to the Republic’s commercial and cultural ties, such as the famous bronze Griffin of Islamic craftsmanship (perhaps war booty) and the statue of the Cithara-playing David of Provençal production.
You must have fun with the famous leaning tower…
Last piece in the piazza was the fallen angel
It was a day of history, incredible scenery, wine, more history, shopping, fun, Chianti and walking these medieval cities with tales of thousands of years ago.
Tuscany is a place we need to return to, we only hit the tip of this region.
After a long amazing day it’s time to say Buona Notte from Italy 🇮🇹
