"Sotto il Sole della Toscana"

Charlene’s favorite movie: Under the Tuscan Sun

We spent one night in Siena, one of the many charming towns of Tuscany. When in Rome, it’s not easy to, “do as the Romans do,” because there aren’t that many Romans around. Siena, on the other hand, is a living, breathing city with actual locals. We saw them in the main square with their children celebrating the start of Carnavale; we saw them in the narrow hilly streets chatting with friends, walking their dogs and strolling their babies on their evening passegiate before supper.

The Piazza del Campo (main square) was littered with confetti and silly string from families celebrating Carnavale

One of our highlights in Siena was our dinner. I washed down my delectable chicken marsala with Tuscan wine and we may have had tiramisu for dessert . . . I don’t remember. While I’m chatting about food, I must mention some of the highlights in Italy.
1. Serving sizes – I hate getting a massive plate of tortellini at Olive Garden because I always try to eat it all. The serving sizes were actually appropriate in Italy.
2. Wine – When you order house wine in Italy, you often actually get a pitcher full of wine the restaurant got from a big barrel in the back. And, some places have sparkling wine ON TAP. Italy is the land of Proseco and I enjoyed every glass I drank.
3. Artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, gnocchi, prosciutto, strawberry tiramisu, nutella and cappuccino.

Gothic architecture is everywhere in Siena. The Duomo (church) there is especially artistic. The marble on the exterior of the church is pearl and pale pink tones; inside, the marble columns have wide horizontal black and white stripes. Our hotel in Siena was pretty unique. The rooms had vaulted gothic ceilings and we looked out on to antique mossy roof tiles.

Brad and his beloved gothic arches; in Piazza del Campo
Il Duomo in Siena
Close-up of the top mosaic
On our hotel balcony; this is the cover shot for February’s Siena Home and Garden magazine

After breakfast in bed at the hotel and one last quiet stroll through the Piazza, we were refreshed and ready for our long train ride to Venice.