The first stop was Pienza, a small hilltop town (between Montalcino and Montepulciano on the map). Pienza is named after Pope Pius II Piccolomini who started major reconstruction of his home town in the second half of the 15th century, aspiring to create a "perfect" town. Pienza is cute, like a miniature Siena. It is also famous for its locally produced Pecorino cheeses, which we liked a lot.
This picture of the cathedral is all we have from this visit to Pienza:
But there are many, of course, on the web (for example, http://www.giorgiozanetti.ca/centro_italia/toscana/pienza_comune.jpg) and our own from a later trip. Next to the cathedral is Palazzo Piccolomini; we didn't get to see it this time but visited it later -- a worthwhile visit and a nice view of Val d'Orcia from the terrace there.
Our base for the first three nights was Hotel Villa San Giorgio near Poggibonsi -- a nice place for a big group, strategically located in the center of places to visit (25 km from Siena). You could see San Giminiano on a clear day, 11 km away. Our double-decker couldn't make it through to the hotel, so every day we had a nice walk 20-minute down the hill to the bus (and up the hill after a long day of sightseeing -- still nice).
Students chilling on the patio at sunset.
... and yet another group photo.
(I guess M was taking the picture and i was checking business email inside.)
Next day, a trip to Siena, a brief guided walking tour.
This view is from the "Facciatone," the wall of the unfinished grandiose facade
of the "new" cathedral. It was left from the glory days in the 14th century , when Siena tried to enlarge its cathedral to make it bigger than Florence's. The project was interrupted by the plague, only the unfinished wall remain.
Then Palazzo, Pubblico, the Hall of the Nine,
Ambrogio Lorenzetti. According to the Comune di Siena
web site, this is the first cycle of secular paintings in history
of art. A fine example of 14th century "socrealizm."
On the other wall, the famous Simone Martini's equestrian
portrait with a horse standing on two left legs:
Around the corner from Piazza del Campo...
... little visited Siena Synagogue, with these commemorative plaques on the wall:
The bottom one says that on June 28, 1799, 13 jews were burned in Piazza del Campo by the fanatics of the Viva Maria antijacobin revolt.
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