The Hill Town of Siena

After four days in Rome seeing the museums, famous sites and shopping, we headed for the best preserved medieval town in Italy – Siena. Gasoline is very expensive in Europe, so taking the train is the logical mode of travel for the next leg of the journey. It was necessary to take two different trains to get to Siena and the first one out of Rome was one of the regular large trains that I have taken before when in Italy. The surprise came when a tiny two car train pulled up at the station in Grosseto, to take us on to Siena. It was an interesting ride along the Italian coast and up into the hill country,

When the travel books say that Siena is a well preserved medieval town, they mean it! I booked rooms in a 17th century monastery that has been converted into a very nice little hotel and though there is no elevator, the view from my room of the surrounding countryside is breathtaking.

Rome was noisy and cosmopolitan and Siena is quiet and quaintly stunning with cool, crisp air. I was giddy with delight as my friend Deonne and I walked the streets of Siena to view the architecture and look in the shops. The medieval architecture of this town seems to cling to the shape of the hills it is built on and rises 3 to 4 stories high giving the narrow, very clean streets a canyon like feel. Siena, Italy is drop dead gorgeous and a must see destination if you have the time.





Our first day of walking around turned out to be on a Sunday when a lot of shops were closed, but we managed to find a restaurant open for lunch that had really good local style food. The owner was a cute old man who took a liking to us and started bringing us all kinds of treats and wine to sample before we ordered. Siena is known for its fine local cuisine and I have to agree that it is very delicious.

One of the photos I have included with is post is of a street shrine to the Virgin Mary, which is a common sight in Italian towns and cities that I find very charming. I have also included a photo of me with the owner of the restaurant that was so wonderful. I could hardly understand a word of his Italian, but it didn’t seem to matter because he was really fun.




Tomorrow we are in search of the art treasures and shopping that Siena has to offer and of course the food – yummy stuff.