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Published: February 15th 2010
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Il Duomo
We definitely like Orvieto's more, but it was pretty nice from the outside. We left Rome to head to Tuscany, to continue my love affair with Tuscan cuisine - truffles and wild boar. I can’t help it. We boarded the train in Rome and after several connections on many regional trains, we arrived at the Siena train station. When we emerged I immediately felt it was a bit colder than I expected. As we made our way farther north from Rome it became colder and colder. Why did we not go to Sicily? To get to the historic center, we crossed under the main road, walked through a small shopping center, to find the bus to take us up into the walled city on the hill. We had to wait almost 30 minutes outside for the bus, and once it arrived, we were on the bus for less than five minutes before it deposited us just inside the city walls. From there, we walked a bit to find our hotel. And, of course, when we checked in the heat had just been turned on and I was freezing immediately. It was a reminder of our apartment in Rome on the first day. We had a quick snack of some pizza slices and I took
a nap to warm up, but the air in the room was so cold that even under several layers of blankets, my nose was virtually frostbitten when I woke up. This was not a good sign. I was missing Southeast Asia terribly! When is the next plane to Vietnam?
Creatures of Habit
We once again created a quick and simple routine and became creatures of habit in Siena. For our first dinner we went a little overboard. I ordered Tuscan bread and white bean soup (to warm up after my cold nap) and pasta with wild boar ragu. It was tasty, but not the best I had. Eric went for a minestrone followed by wild boar stew. After dinner we went for a brisk walk around town. Siena is most known for its giant campo, or field, in the center of the old town. It is a large brick field surrounded by a typical Italian piazza filled with shops, cafes, and restaurants. Every year they run the il Palio in the center of the campo, a fiercely competitive horse race where racers from each of the independent neighborhoods race around the campo with cheering fans
This Sums it Up
Caffe on il Campo in the center. The pride and independence of the neighborhoods is borderline crazy. Supposedly a family will not allow their daughter to marry a boy from another neighborhood, even though he is Italian, Tuscan, Sienese, and probably Catholic. I am not sure how much of this still exists, but it was interesting to imagine the stories as we walked through the campo. I have seen video of the horse competition, and it is fierce. During the winter, however, the campo was quiet and fairly empty.
Starting the following morning our routine started. The hotel offered some of the worst free breakfast available, with nasty instant espresso. So, each morning after we skipped breakfast and made our way to the campo instead. On the campo during the February and March carnival period, a little wood building is set up on one side of the campo to sell a deep fried doughnut like pastry that is sprinkled with sugar and served piping hot. We tried it first by ordering four pastries. Our next visit we ordered eight, and then twelve - you get the picture. They were tasty and fresh - like fried, sweet bits of heaven. We would bring the
Il Campo
Where they run the annual Palio race bag of pastries to a café set up on the campo and would sit outside, under a heat lamp until our butts started to get numb from the cold, eating our pastries and enjoying a cappuccino.
We also started to frequent a cafeteria near the hotel - first for a cheap lunch of pasta and vegetables, and then for the traditional Italian aperitivo. Basically, you order a drink or glass of wine and you gain access to a mini buffet of Italian specialties. We were introduced to this tradition during a winter trip to Italy a few years ago, in Milan and Turino. Once we found that Siena had the aperitivo, it quickly was added onto our schedule. The point is for Italians to have a quick snack before a late dinner, however, for us it was a quick and cheap way to fill up enough to not need a dinner. Even better, the café had pieces of fresh sliced bread slathered with a truffle cream spread that was to die for. We could order a glass of house wine for about $2 each and I could fill up on truffle cream. I liked this town. We agreed that the
Lardo
Not my favorite, but glad I tried it next day we would have a big lunch and return for the aperitivo. We also tried two traditional Italian drinks, one a Campari bitter red liquor with prosecco sparkling wine and a slice of orange (still too bitter for me). The other was Aperol, a sweeter orange liquor, also matched with prosecco. It was better than the Campari drink, but in the end, I felt like “when in Rome . . .” When in Tuscany, drink Tuscan red wine.
During an afternoon visit to the cafeteria, Eric and I each ordered a cappuccino. We drank it at the counter bar, which is the traditional place for a quick café in Italy. It was during lunch time, and all the tables were filled with regulars chowing down. One of the customers spilled some lunch on his purple tie (purple was a big color this winter in Italy with every shop front covered in purple fashion). He approached the bar and asked the employee for help. She emerged with some sort of stain removal in a bottle, which she sprayed on his tie to help the stain dissolve. I have never seen anything like that before.
Our two big lunches
Some Serious Cured Meat
Eric's platter, with even more lardo. in Siena were merely opportunities to feast on some more Tuscan specialties. We had lunch at il Sasso, in the cantina basement with an arched brick roof over head. I had wanted to try a Tuscan specialty, lardo, and that I did. Lardo is salami that is made by curing strips of pig fat. It is essentially like the fatty part of bacon, but has an amazing pork taste to it. This lardo was in a spread with black pepper. It had a great taste to it, but spread over crispy grilled crostini still had the texture of uncooked bacon fat. It is a specialty of the area, but I could not get over the texture. I decided to save my appetite for the main course. I finished the meal with a risotto with truffles and bacon. It was a bit al dente, and seemed almost uncooked, but the flavor and smell was phenomenal. Eric had a platter of cured meats (with strips of lardo) and a risotto with seafood that was pretty good.
Our other restaurant experience was at a fancier and historic restaurant - loaded with pictures wall to wall of famous people, Restaurant Guido. Most of
Rissoto With Truffles
Of course, me with the truffles. the people in the photos were Italian; many pictures were in black and white (including one of Elizabeth Taylor). More recent photos included James Bond Daniel Craig (probably eating there when they filmed a scene in the movie in Siena, in the campo, during il Palio), Mel Gibson, and Mischa Barton. We certainly went over our budget, but I think it was worth it. Eric had risotto with pumpkin and sausage. I started with a fresh parpadelle pasta with wild boar ragu, and we split a wild boar stew on grilled polenta served with white beans in a garlic and tomato sauce. I have mentioned my fascination with wild boar to many people in the US, who generally cringe at the notion of wild boar. This experience was the epitome of my mantra - just because the name of it is different, don’t knock it. Wild boar is nothing more than a wild, hairy pig. Apparently, it can be a bit gamey, and can be cured to tenderness to get rid of the gamey flavor. Regardless of what it is called, the meat itself is a fairly tender chunk of meat that soaks in the tomato sauce it is served with. This was a much better wild boar experience than our first night in Siena, and washed down with a nice Chianti, was the perfect end to our trip to Siena. That afternoon we boarded three different trains to make our to Lucca, to visit some new amici, friends.
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