Day 11 - Siena & San Gimignano
Private tour to Siena and San Gimignano
July 2, 2023: Today was the first day we did a private tour. I booked two for this trip. The other will be in Venice. Both are through a company called Joe Banana Tours who I heard about on the Untold Italy Podcast. They were very easy to work with leading up to today and our driver/tour guide was cool. He was military police turned body guard turned driver and tour guide. Great guy, very knowledgeable and super friendly. He also gave us some restaurant recommendations and told us to tell them Marizio sent us 😉.
The day started at 9:00AM with a drive to Siena. We didn’t realize that today was the Palio in Siena. It is horse race, but our driver told us, and it is the most important event in Siena, taking place on July 2 and August 16 every year.
In the Palio, the various Sienese "contrade", or areas in which the city is divided, challenge each other in a passionate horse race in the heart of the city in the Piazza del Campo.
The 17 Contrades which still exist today are: the Eagle, Snail, Wave, Panther, Forest, Tortoise, Owl, Unicorn, Shell, Tower, Ram, Caterpillar, Dragon, Giraffe, Porcupine, She-Wolf and the Goose. Each Contrada has its own unique emblem and colors and represents an area of the city. As one walks through the streets of Siena you see people wearing a flag representing their contrade. The race is tonight, so we were not able to watch it, but it was already getting crowded in the city.
After we Siena, we headed to a winery on a farm called Sant’Appiano. A beautiful property in the heart of Tuscany. Fattoria Sant'Appiano, one of the oldest Tuscan estates, in the Chianti production area, has its roots in the 14th century, when it belonged to the Gherardini family. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the property was transferred to the Catellini da Castiglione, to the Pitti and various others until the present day and to the current owners, the Cappelli family, who acquired the property in 1963. After his death in 1999, the farm and vineyard were handed down to his children and subsequently to his grandchildren; and they are still today those on which agricultural activity is based. We were lucky enough to meet his daughter who was at the winery today.
We tasted both white and red wines while enjoying an appetizer, some amazing pasta ragú, a meat dish and a delicious tiramisu. It was a relaxing experience that we thoroughly enjoyed.
Once finished at the farm, we headed to San Gimignano, a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of its tower houses. Within the walls, the well-preserved buildings include examples of both Romanesque and Gothic architecture. We only had about an hour in San Gimignano and I already know that we will come back to spend more time there in the future. There were so many quaint little shops and eateries and it had a great vibe. We bought a few souvenirs while making our way through the town. Everyone was so friendly. Marizio drove us back to our apartment after we were done in San Gimignano. We were both exhausted and almost fell asleep in the car on the way home. We rested for a few hours and then headed our for dinner.
Dinner tonight was at Trattoria 4 Leoni, a restaurant just a two minute walk from our Airbnb. It is always fully booked, so we had a reservation. I now know why it is so booked, the food is delicious. I know I keep saying that, but the food here is different. It just tastes better. We finished our dinner and headed back to start packing for trip to Lucca and Viareggio. We are very much looking forward to explore more places outside of Florence. More to come!
JImm’s rating for today: ***** (I agree!)