I awoke this morning at 6 AM to the sounds of chanting.  Standing by our window, I heard the chanting get louder and realized i was hearing a morning worship service at one of the nearby churches.  What a lovely way to start my day.

Exploring the city, we noticed the contrada flags and symbols that were still up from the Palio (horse race in Il Campo where 10 of the 17 Siena districts compete) winner celebration on Saturday night.  Contrade date back to the Middle Ages and are districts within Siena. Each contrada has its own flag and is named after an animal or symbol.

We walked through the beautiful Il Campo, the town square of Siena.  The buildings are the same color as the soil, known to artists as “Burnt Siena.”

On one side of Il Campo is the City Hall.

 Sloping upward from the City Hall on the other side of Il Campo is the beautiful 15th century  Fountain of Joy.

We had an amazing lunch at Dolceforte.  After seeing another beautiful display of porcini mushrooms at the market, I had to order the tagliatelle with fresh porcini mushrooms.

Paul had pici all’aglione (pasta with garlic tomato sauce.)  Chef David talked with us after lunch and shared how to make his amazing sauce.  The secret is getting the right tomatoes.

Our landlord’s sister brought us fresh pesto she had made that morning.  She also told us about the best bakery to visit and recommended that we try pan co’ santi (bread of the saints) that is made with olive oil and no eggs or butter.  It is a special bread made only at this time of the year.

Using Antonella’s pesto sauce, we made a wonderful dinner of fresh pasta with pesto, rucola salad, Brunello from our wine tour and panforte, the classic dessert of Siena.

Brunello is one of our favorite red wines, so a return trip to Montalcino, the only area in the world that produces this special wine, was a must. First stop was lunch at Enoteca Osteria Osticcio, a wonderful restaurant with great food and a great view.

Paul had meatballs with roasted grapes, David had Tuscan vegetable soup that we all agreed was the best soup we had ever tasted, Julie had roast pork and beans and I had home-made spaghetti with bacon, tomatoes and pecorino cheese. And we all had grilled vegetables, which are on almost all Tuscan menus.

From Montalcino to Torrenieri, a small town near Montalcino, and up a narrow gravel road and we arrived at the Santa Giulia winery. This small, family-run winery has been in the Terzuoli family for three generations. As soon as we got out of our car, we knew we were in for a special experience. Gonlucca welcomed us to his winery and introduced us to his family. After a tour of the small cellar beneath his home, we tasted two Brunellos and one Rosso di Montalcino along with home-made salami, capocollo, prosciutto and pecorino cheese from Pianza.

Gonlucca sat with us, and we all enjoyed the wonderful wine, great food and interesting company. He talked about how he grew up learning about farming grapes and making wine and thinks of himself as a farmer, not a wine maker.  “Wine is made in the field, not in the cellar.”

We enjoyed one last view of the beautiful farm and said good-bye to this charming Italian family and their idyllic life.

After five glorious weeks in Firenze, we left for Siena this morning.  Waiting for the taxi to take us to our rental car, I took one last look down our street.

With David driving and Paul navigating, we made our way to Siena with a lovely little stop in San Gimignano.  Rick Steves calls San Gimignano a tourist trap, but I must say it is the most adorable tourist trap I have ever visited. I had an amazing dish called crespelles, a type of Italian crepe made with chestnut flour, for lunch.

The view of the hillside looked like a painting.

Galateria Dondoli, owned by a member of the Italian team that won the official Gelato World Cup is in San Gimignano, so of course, we had to try it.

We arrived in Siena, found a place to park our car and walked to our apartment.  Our apartment is right in the heart of the city, and we have an amazing view out our living room window.

Tonight on the way to dinner we saw the celebration of the winners of the Palio, Twice a year in the summer ten of Siena’s seventeen neighborhoods compete against each other in a horse race.  It is a huge event, and the celebration tonight filled Il Campo.  The winning horse even made an appearance.

We went to Taverna San Giuseppe for dinner and visited the wine-and-cheese cellar which was created from an Etruscan tomb.  The Etruscans preceded the Romans.

Only in Firenze is the Town Hall an amazing palace and former home of the Medici family.  We took a guided tour of Palazzo Vecchio today and learned a lot about the building and the Medici family.  The map room was lined with maps of the world as they knew it in 1550.  There was a map that showed Florida.  Although Florida was shorter and fatter than it really is, it was hard to believe that a little less than sixty years after Christopher Columbus landed on America the Italians were able to construct a map of the country.

Because we were on a guided tour, we had access to the secret rooms behind one of the map-room panels.  Our guide opened a hidden door and we walked through a dark passageway and entered a charming little room.

The decor was amazing.  The Hall of Justice and the Hall of Lilies had ceilings that were totally covered with gold leaf and lapis lazuli.

The great hall is a reflection of Cosimo I de Medici’s confidence and power.  The painting in the center of the building shows him being crowned by an angel.

Large frescoes on the wall depict his victories over neighboring towns such as Pisa and Sienna.

One of the statues, “Winged Boy with Dolphin” in the palazzo is by Andrea del Verrocchio, the teacher of Leonardo da Vinci.

Earlier in the day we took David on one of our favorite walks up a gazillion steps to San Mineato, a beautiful Medieval church.

This time we were able to walk around the cemetery that surrounds the church.

When we went inside, a monk was near one of the alters.  I thought her was preparing for a service, but then he pulled out a vacuum cleaner and started cleaning.

In the evening we took David and Julie to our favorite opera find, Love Duets at St. Mark’s Church.  There were about fifty people there, a few more than when we went earlier.  A couple we know from Bemidji, our northern MN home of thirty years, was in the same audience.

Tomorrow we leave for Sienna, and I am feeling sad to say good-bye to Firenze.  i was starting to feel like I lived here.  The owner of my favorite gelato place remembers what I like and gets it ready when I enter. In the last two days, a waiter we have gotten to know stopped his car and called out to us as he drove by that we still hadn’t met for a coffee.  Then a few blocks later the owner of another restaurant we like was out with friends and recognized us and greeted us as we walked by.

After a month of living two blocks from the beautiful Basilica of Santa Croce, we finally visited it today.  Built in the 13th and 14th centuries, it has sixteen chapels, many of them decorated with beautiful frescoes.  Although it was a rainy day and major sites in Firenze are usually crowded, there were few visitors the morning we were there.  We felt so lucky to have a serene experience in this special place.

The largest Franciscan church in the world, Santa Croce is the burial place of many famous Italians, including Michelangelo, Galileo and Dante.  The monuments along the walls are beautiful.

Tomb of Michelangelo

Tomb of Dante

Tomb of Galileo

In the afternoon we went to the Galileo Museum, a beautiful museum that showcases artifacts from Galileo and other scientists from the 15th through the 18th century.

All of the information is in both Italian and English and most rooms have monitors displaying how the instruments worked.  There was an amazing display of early telescopes.

I was impressed with both the beauty and scientific sophistication of these early instruments.  As we were leaving the museum, there was an additional display of early instruments, including this beautiful planetary clock.

In the evening we went to the Medici Dynasty Show, a one-hour theater and multi-media show summarizing 300 years of Firenze history and the contributions and influence of the Medici family.    The Medicis support of the arts and humanities in the 13th and 14th centuries is responsible for Firenze being the cradle of the Renaissance.  After the show we talked with Giuseppe Arone, the writer/producer of the show

Thanks to a great recommendation from Giuseppe, we had dinner at Le Mossacce,, a tiny little trattoria.

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We went to cooking school tonight at in Tavola to make a four-course Italian meal under the guidance of our most entertaining chef, Alessandro.

We learned that only Eggplant and Zucchini Parmesan are authentic Italian dishes.  Every other kind of Parmesan dish, including Chicken Parmesan, is an American invention.  Round zucchinis only grow in Tuscany.

Alessandro taught us  some great cooking techniques, including how the Italians make their chicken so tender and juicy.

Our four-couse meal consisted of Zucchine alla Parmeigiana (zucchini Parmesan), In Tavola Cannelloni with Salsa di Besciamella (crepes stuffed with ricotta, spinach, chicken and veal with Bechamel Sauce), Chicken and Mushroom with Marsala, and Torta al Cioccolato ( chocolate flourless cake).

We enjoyed the lovely meal we had prepared in a room that was built one hundred years after the birth of Christ.

Knowing we would be eating big at our class, we started the day with a seven-mile hike in the Firenze countryside.  I loved seeing things I would never find on a hike at home, like unique fence posts, ripening olives, and Italian cypress trees loaded with cones.,

Firenze’s must-see sight is the David, Michelangelo’s glorious, 17-foot-tall statue at the Accademia.  So, taking our friend David to see the statue David was a perfect way to start our day.

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at All’ antico Vinaio.   Our charming waiter recommended the grilled vegetable, meat and cheese board which was beautiful as well as delicious.

The amazing meat and cheeses on the board are the same ones used in the restaurant’s sandwich shop across the street.  The sandwich shop is  Trip Advisor’s #1 rated sandwich shop in all of Europe.  A National Geographic crew set up next to us in the restaurant to film a segment about the sandwich shop.

In the afternoon we went to the Uffizi, home of the greatest collection of Renaissance art in the world.  Julia had a moment with one of the living statues before we entered the museum.

Standing outside on the terrace level of the Uffizi, we had a beautiful view of the top of Palazzo Vecchio, the old town hall of Firenze.

Touring the Tuscan countryside, wine and olive oil tasting, an authentic Tuscan lunch in a small village, and a day with a charming Italian sommelier created a perfect day in Italy.  Castello di Gabbiano, a winery housed in a castle was the first stop on our “Castle and Chianti” wine tour from Italy and Wine .  We had taken a Brunello wine tour from this company five years ago and knew we wanted to do another wine tour with them on this trip.

The sommelier showed us around the lovely estate and described their wine-making process.  We tasted Chianti, Chianti Classico, and Chianti Classico Reserva and learned the governmental regulations for each.  We also tasted ten-year-old balsamic vinegar.

After our first tasting, we went to lunch in a tiny Tuscan village.  Tuscans place great importance on eating seasonal, locally-grown food.  Many restaurants put asterisks next to dishes that may contain frozen ingredients when fresh are not in season.  We ate black cabbage pasta (because it is black cabbage season) and white bean and bread soup.

My favorite stop of the day was at San Michele a Torri, an organic farm and winery where we tasted the three different classifications of Chianti, a Super Tuscan, VinSanto (a sweet dessert wine), olive oil and dried meats, all made on the farm.  Out of hundreds of olive oils produced in Tuscany, theirs is one of only twenty-two to get the highest rating.

In addition to providing great Italian wine instruction, our sommelier/tour guide Hillary gave us wonderful insight into Italian culture, such as:  Italians love Americans and still greatly appreciate what the USA did for them in World War II.  Holocaust Remembrance Day was established by the Italian Parliament in 2000 as a “Day of Memory” of the Italian persecution of the Jews.  There are forty-one American universities and a large American population in Firenze.  Italian men spend more time on their appearance than Italian women.  Firenze is a culture of craftspeople, making many beautiful products by hand.

The Day Before Castles and Chianti

We  had no specific plans the day before our wine tour.  Wanting to share some of our favorite places with our friends, we started the day with a seven-mile hike up to Piazalle Michelangelo for a beautiful view of the city.  We could see pink shirts everywhere as thousands of runners participating in Corri La Vita to raise money for breast cancer research ran along the river and over the bridge.  After lunch at Trattoria Marione, we came outside to find many families waiting to get in for Sunday lunch.

We had another great dinner at Oesteria de Pazzi, where David and Julie got to meet Paulo, the charming, singing owner.

Wine from the Chianti Rufina area arrived in Firenze today just as it has since the 14th century.  Friends David and Julie arrived yesterday, and we all went to Piazza del Signorina to watch the procession.  Paul and David almost missed the procession because they made a little detour to the wine shop on the way to the piazza.

First the wine was blessed in Piazza del Duomo, and then the procession made its way down the middle of one of the busiest shopping streets in Firenze to Piazza del Signorina.

Dressed in 14th century costumes, drummers, horn players, flag throwers and gentle folk carrying big flasks of wine marched to the steady beat of the drums.

The highlight of the procession was the arrival of the Carro Matto ( “crazy cart”) pulled by two white oxen.  The traditional Chianti bottles and straw baskets have always been made in Firenze, and the Carro Matto  festival celebrates the wine-making tradition and re-enacts how the wine was brought into the city.  The basket covering the bottle provides thermal insulation for the wine and protects the bottles from breaking.  The bottles are strung together in a pyramid shape for transport.

I loved the character and dedication in the cart driver’s face.

After the procession reached the piazza, speeches were given (unfortunately we couldn’t understand what they were saying) wine was presented to the dignitaries, and flag throwers demonstrated their amazing skills. Then the procession regrouped and made a stately exit from the piazza.

It was so amazing to watch an event that has been going on for over five hundred years.  And it was extra special to have our good friends here to share this wonderful event with us.

After dinner we strolled the piazzas and talked with a young chalk artist.  She started her work this morning and will complete it by 10:00 tomorrow night.  The finished work will include pictures of the Mona Lisa, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, and Charlie Chaplan.  It will be washed off the pavement tomorrow night.

Ever since we discovered “Firenze, The Walking City” published hiking routes, we have taken some great walks.  Yesterday we hiked our longest, about nine miles, and favorite route of all.  The path wound up hills and through beautiful villas and small communities.

Luckily, we took our umbrellas because about half way through our hike it started to drizzle.

At first the rain seemed cozy and made the hillsides look different from our previous walks.

It started raining harder, but we felt like adventurers and kept on going.  We had to keep going because there was no place to stop.  As we got close to home, it started to pour and we heard thunder and saw lightening,  We were soaked by the time we got home, but we felt great.

After drying out, we went to Mangia, our favorite pizzeria, for lunch and chatted with the wine manager.  He comes from a long line of wine makers and gave us quite an overview of Italian wine.

Before going home, we went to Galleria del Chianti, Paul’s favorite enoteca (wine shop), to get some wine that we wanted to try.  The owner is always helps us make good selections.