Siena.

Ok, here's my take on Sienna: Where Florence was dirty, Sienna is clean. Where Florence felt hostile, Sienna is friendly. Where Florence was expensive everywhere, Sienna is reasonable. Where Florence felt dangerous, I feel safe in Sienna. Where everything closes in Florence at night, Sienna comes to life.

Sienna is probably my favorite Italian city so far. It's clean, friendly, and very attractive. It's central piazza is actually very relaxing and a comfortable place to rest. It's Duomo has the most beautiful interior of any Church I've seen so far. Florence's Duomo was the most attractive on the outside, but the inside was stark and bare and ruined with random monuments which I didn't like at all. Sienna's was unified, ornate, and attractive, and those inlaid marble floors (which we just happened to see during the uncovered season) where a sight to behold. I've never seen anything quite like it.

Sienna is kind of like Assisi in that it has two sections of the town. It has the old town which is up on the hill and still resembles a medieval city, and it as the new section which surrounds the old one and is where most modern business takes place. The old section seems to dedicated mostly to tourism, pleasure trips, and consumer commerce. People do still live up there, but I don't think that there is any business left but shops. It is like old-town Manassas that way.

The Piazza Il Campo in the center of the old town is kind of like New York's time square. It's the center of everything and used to be the center of government for the town. All the best and most expensive shops on Il Campo and people from everywhere gather there to relax or shop or whatever they're up to. It's very nice usually. There's an outdoor chapel there that the people made in obedience to a vow made during the plague. Mass is celebrated there during the day so the shopkeepers on Il Campo don't have to leave there stores and stop work to attend mass.

Il Campo is also the location of a famous Siennese horse race that is held twice a year. Sienna is divided into 17 neighborhoods or contrada who compete for prestige in the race twice a year. They pick their jockeys and the horses are chosen by lots. They race three times around the square. The race is very fast and very cutthroat. The winning faction celebrates for months with parades and flag waving. They've been doing this for 800 years and it contributes to the neighborhood pride which contributes to the nice atmosphere that Sienna presents.

Another thing that contributes to this atmosphere is that Sienna is a very religious town, at least when compared to Florence or Rome. The entire city is dedicated to Our Lady nd nearly everything is named after her. The Siennese are proud of the fact that they have two homegrown saints and a Eucharistic miracle (which I got to see up close.)

In conclusion, Sienna is very nice and I wish that I had longer than one and a half days to explore it.
God Bless.

Florence is famous.

Here's my take on Florence: The people are cranky and everything is expensive. You have to pay to get into the Churches and the museums and the insides are rather ugly. On the outside Florence's Duomo is the most beautiful church I've ever seen but on the inside it's disappointingly ugly. The river has rats that are over a foot and a half long and Sam has the picture to prove it (no seriously, he has a picture of huge rat!) The entire city is very dirty and graffiti is everywhere, even more so than Rome. The sheer number of shady characters on the streets, along with human feces on the sidewalk and queer smells, make me shiver in my shoes. The only nice things are obvious and expensive tourist traps.

The entire city feels as if it has seen better days. In the past, Florence has been popular tourist destination. It seems as if the entire city adjusted to make most of it's money from tourism. After this, I guess they just let other business stop in favor of a tourism based economy. This, of course would put a lot of people out of jobs and encourage other incomes, like begging, pickpocketing, and illegal street vending. Everything in the city feels like it was nice at one time, but not anymore, everything is dedicated to the tourists. Our hotel for example, feels like it was once very nice but now seems to be more of a hookup joint, a shame.

Then again, I may not be being fair. The weather has been mostly bad for my first impression, and we were prepped with some pretty negative stories about how people were being constantly raped in Florence. To be fair, the shopkeepers have been mostly friendly and seem to value my business. Nothing bad has actually happened here, and the Church of S. Miniato was an awesome Benedictine, Albine monestary chapel. The museums are cool even though the lines are long. So Florence, take it or leave it. So Florence, not the nicest place I've ever been, but the museums and the Churches make is a worthy place for a visit.

I did NOT need to see that.

The Uffizi Museum in Florence. The Uffizi is Florence's famous museum. It's where all the famous Michaelangelos, Raphaels, Leonardos & so forth are kept. There are also a lot of ancient Roman sculptures. I've decided that these sculptures are way too much wank for me to handle. Nearly every statue has one. Even the ones that don't need one have one. Heck, even a few statues that I might otherwise mistake for female have them. I don't know why this is, I don't want to speculate why. It just grosses me out. It's really unpleasant. Most of he paintings were nice though.

So Beautiful.

Wow. I'm in Assisi at the moment and I can honestly say that I wish you could see what I see right now. Assisi is an extremely picturesque little town built on the top of a mountain. At the very top is an old castle which defended it in medieval times. Assisi started as an old Roman town an it still has the old temple of Minerva at the center. It has been since converted into a church. I'm staying near the top of the mountain in a hostel and just a block down the road is an absolutely gorgeous view of the valley behind the town. Another block or two away is the old castle from which you can get a view of Assisi and almost the whole valley surrounding. Many of the buildings here are centuries old and have merely been adapted for the modern world. My room for example, has electricity but no right angles. Most of the town is made from this pink stone that is mined in the area.

The house where St. Francis was born is no longer standing and in it's place is the Chiesa Nuova. The room where St. Francis was born along with with his old habit is preserved there. The Basilica of St. Claire houses the original cross that spoke to him. The chapel of San Damiano, which St. Francis rebuilt, is still intact along with the convent that St Claire founded at the spot. We visited the chapel earlier today. The Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli is built around the chapel of St. Francis' old community. The old chapel building is still inside and has frescoes painted onto the outside now. The descendants of the rose bushes that he rolled in and which lost their thorns are growing on the grounds of the Basilica.

The walk to the top of the mountain is arduous, but definitely worth it. I doubt I've ever seem any view so awesome and the air was so incredibly clear. It's cool to think that St. Francis once looked upon a similar view when he left the city to go to his hermitage and pray. Definitely. Assisi is awesome.

Home Sweet Rome

Or should it be "Rome, Sweet Home?" I don't know but I'm glad to be back. After traveling through Assisi, Florence, and Siena, I'm glad to be back. I wrote down some thought while I was gone; I'll post them all in a moment.