In the meanders of Siena, face to face with Ambrogio Lorenzetti
The Sienese children teach their English peers to push forward the barberithe marbles of the districts, sharing with them i ciaccini, the soft focaccias, under the ogival Gothic arches of the millenary Fontebranda. It seems an ancient scene, yet it is renewed in this spring of great, ancient news for Siena, which is preparing to relive, after two infinite years of renunciation, the magic and passion of its palio, scheduled for July 2 and August 16 next.
If at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, housed in that thirteenth-century Palazzo Chigi Saracini from whose windows, when it was formed by the only tower built by the Marescotti family, the victory of the battle of Montaperti was announced to the people, the concerts have once again fascinated, the Americans their love affair with Piazza del Campo: they consume an aperitif at the Bar del Palio, book their room with a view of the most famous shell-shaped public space in the world guaranteed by their stay at Palazzo Giorgi and the Palazzetto Rosso (its rooms host also temporary exhibitions), as well as in the suggestive Torre di Roccabruna.
From the Osteria Le Logge to the Salefino Bottiglieria for quality food
Food in Siena is a matter of style and taste at the same time, which involves all the senses: here, therefore, is the pleasure of eating traditional dishes in an enveloping setting like at the Compagnia dei Vinattieri and Bottigliera Salefino, or in the ancient one. pharmacy that was the Osteria Le Logge, which is accompanied by the desire to consume free-range dishes in the open air, under the buttresses that look like arches, sheltered by maternal vaults such as the Osteria Il Grattacielo. You can then get lost in the narrow or shaggy alleys, come out on the Piazza del Mercato, in front of the Basilica of San Francesco, under the ramparts of the Medici Fortress, and then enter this sixteenth-century citadel where children chase a ball and adults read in the sun. .
From there you can take a romantic walk up to Porta Fontegiusta and Porta Camollia, venture to the Passeggio della Lizza, where equestrian tournaments took place at the end of the 16th century, get tangled again in the tangle of alleys in the historic center, unraveling the question of location from the Fornaio il Magnifico where, tasting ricciarelli, pan co ‘Santi, biting into the mythical panforte with whole sweet almonds, cedar and candied orange peel, starch wafers, honey and spices, one is informed about the tradition of bread making.
Walking around the city with Casanova, Galilei and Freud
Palazzo Chigi Zondari – Siena has always reserved infinite artistic beauties: its Archaeological Museum has reopened in the meanders of that little on the hill of the Cathedral with at least seven architectural levels (the frescoes of the Pellegrinaio seem to be translated into the everyday life of Siena of the fourteenth century, the disturbing statues of Acca Larenzia and Rea Silvia by Jacopo della Quercia, intended like the other original reliefs at the Fonte Gaia in Piazza del Campo, never fail to bewitch). Walking through its veins of tuff and sandstone you will discover sarcophagi, funerary steles, goldsmiths, coins: it is the same, archaeological emotion that one feels crossing the underground path of the Bottini, the underground tunnels of the medieval aqueduct characterized by sculptural encrustations of sandstone .