Siena Italy!

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Siena (Sienne)
Arriving in Siena was moderately tricky. After exiting the rail, I want to the Tobacconist (they sell bus tickets, coffee and cigarettes, along with souvenirs and knick-knacks), to purchase a bus ticket. I was to take the 3 or the 10 bus from the stazione to Gramsci Square (piazza). I unboarded the bus a bit too early - asking with hand gestures (no, not the middle finger) an elderly lady if I was at the wrong spot. She was headed the same place, and eventually she simply had me follow her.

On arriving at Piazza Gramsci, Tatiyana, my couch-surfing host, requested that I wait at the bar. Gramsci square is a bus stop, surrounded by medieval buildings converted for modern use: cafes, purse shops, bars, etc. I waited under an awning decorated with Guinness logos. After a few minutes, Tatiyana arrived, walking with a guy which I assumed was her boyfriend. His name is Luigi (actually it was something else I couldn’t pronounce, so he told me to call him Luigi). We walked through slightly misty streets (it had been raining off and on throughout my trip so far), passing a few churches, through a HUGE square (actually it was shaped like a potato wedge), where there was an amazing city building - with a castle like design at the roof.

We walked into a small street just next to the city building, arriving at a 2 or 3 story building. Walking downstairs, they mentioned that Valentino, one of their flatmates, is never home (he is with his girlfriend all the time). I was to take his bed, instead of a couch.

Upon arriving, Tatiyana had a map of the city, and gave me a key to their flat. There are 4 people that live in their flat, all are anthropology majors at the local university. Paolo, Tatiyana and Elisabetta - Valentino, I don’t know since I didn’t meet him, and Luigi is staying there temporarily until he finds a job that doesn’t involve waiting tables for Americanos. The flat had 2 bedrooms and a common/kitchen/dining room. This is where we congregated to eat and chat. My bed was in the room with Paolo (and a large room it was!). Of the people I met in Siena, I got to know Paolo the best, since I roomed with him. Luigi, Elisabetta and Tati were pretty busy in the mornings - and by then I had already set out to get lost in the city. Paolo is a cultural anthropology major - he plays the guitar and we talked a lot about experimental music. He, like me, is attentive to normal everyday sounds, considering most everything to be worthwhile of being called music. His English, to me is good, but he seems to have a complex that it is not so good - I wanted to speak Italian to him, so I started using the web to translate sentences. Elisabetta is from Sicily - she wears a shit load of jewelry - not stupid diamonds, definitely more “anthropological” bracelets and necklaces. She was usually pretty busy, so I didn’t see much of her. Juila reminded me of Princess Buttercup from the princess bride. Also an anthro chick, Julia is ½ irish and ½ Italian.


One of the days we went to a pizzeria (they are the Italian ‘fast food’ shops), got 2 pizzas and randomly showed up at a friends house to eat it. They offered me coffee, talked about football (not Football), and smoked plenty of cigarettes. Two nights in a row we met at the seemingly most happening place in Siena - a small bar. We were served appetizers with our drinks - I had Gin Tonics, Long Islands and a couple of “Spritz”’s. We sat around an outside table, in the cold, and passed around the conversation. About ½ of it I couldn’t understand, but given a Gin Tonic, I was relatively amused anyways.

The city of Siena is small, and is surrounded by a huge wall, with about 7 doors (portos), and a fort with no apparent original entrance. The wall was not straight, as it outlined the cities 3 main hills, which congregated together to form Piazza del Campo (the Piazza where the city building is). The streets are not easy to navigate for a couple of reasons. To begin, the city is on top of the hills so walking up and down streets can be taxing when you’re not used to it. Also, there are some streets that are straight, but most are simply a carving of the placement of huge medieval buildings, not to mention they outline the curve of Piazza del campo. This makes it easy to get lost in, even WITH a map (and I’m good with maps), and extremely tired to walk around the city. Check out the map and pics. The city is a miniature tourist trap, along with a city that contains many social customs and such. In May (Maggio), there is a horse racing tournament inside piazza del campo. The city is divided geographically into different neighborhoods (I forgot what they call them), and each neighborhood has their own racing horse. Apparently there are disputes between each section as to who is going to win the next race; they sometimes even lead to skirmishes. The week or so before the race, the horses are treated like gods, and even are allowed in church for Sunday Mass!

Siena provided me with a unique view of an eclectic medieval COLLEGE town. Parts of the city were built over 1000 years ago with long bizarre walls that contained the city as a whole. The streets were cobble stoned, with drivers zipping in and about, between buildings and through alleyways that seemed to host barely enough room for a hot wheel. The students I met were mostly anthropologists - and while I’m not one myself, I found comfort in staying near them since my life at Utah State has been so saturated with them. I’m very lucky to have been hosted with such cool and laid-back people!!

After staying 3 nights, I was on the train on my way to Florence to do some more couch surfing!

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