Agostoli

We checked out of the hotel and were on our way north in the van shortly after 9:00 a.m. Everything is very green - apparently, much of the vegetation will turn brown in the fierce heat of the summer. We passed soft rolling hill and lots of small farms. We soon found ourselves officially in Tuscany - land of good living and Chianti wine.

Our first stop was a small winery called Agricola Fabbriche Palma located near the small village of Monte San Savino. There, the sommelier, Andrea, took us on a tour of the vineyard and its cellars and explained, in just the right amount of detail, the wine making process. Then, he led us through a wine tasting will we lunched on Tuscan foods - fresh tomatoes, bruschetta with extra virgin olive oil, pecorino cheese, salami, porchetta and prosciutto, with cantucci biscuits for dessert. It was all fabulous. Some delighted travellers took the opportunity to buy some wine.

From there, we went to Siena. The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. Siena is famous for its cuisine, art, museums, medieval cityscape and the Palio, a horse race held twice a year. According to local legend, Siena was founded by Senius and Aschius, two sons of Remus and thus nephews of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. The Piazza del Campo, the shell-shaped town square, unfurls before the Palazzo Pubblico with its tall Torre del Mangia.

The Palio di Siena is a traditional medieval horse race run around the Piazza del Campo twice each year, on 2 July and 16 August. The event is attended by large crowds, and is widely televised. Seventeen Contrade (which are city neighbourhoods originally formed as battalions for the city's defence) vie for the trophy: a painted banner, or Palio bearing an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

I visited Siena in 2016 and got soaked by a sudden rain storm. Well, now I'm 0-2 when fighting the rain gods in Siena. We had some time to explore the town, but as we set out, the skies opened up. Doug and I took refuge in a café, hoping that the rain would end before the café's patience with non-paying customers would. Well, we eventually gave in and ordered two hot chocolate drinks. The bill came to 12 euro - that's about $20!!! Good thing those drinks were warm and tasted good. It rained on and off for the rest of our visit to this town.

We still had some time, so we set off for the cathedral. The Siena Cathedral (Duomo), begun in the 12th century, is a masterpiece of Italian Romanesque-Gothic architecture. The ticket and security lines were really long, so we skipped seeing the inside and marvelled at the incredibly intricate exterior. The exterior and interior are constructed of white and greenish-black marble in alternating stripes, with addition of red marble on the façade. Black and white are the symbolic colors of Siena, etiologically linked to black and white horses of the legendary city's founders, Senius and Aschius.

Siena is also the home to St. Catherine of Siena who was canonized in 1461, declared patron saint of Rome in 1866, and of Italy (together with Francis of Assisi) in 1939. She is one of the most influential writers in Catholicism, to the point that she is one of only four women to be declared a doctor of the Church.

Our little band of cold, damp travellers hiked the considerable distance back to the bus. The town was very, very busy because of the 4-day weekend that started with yesterday's national holiday so parking was at a very, very high premium and we had to park far away from the old town centre. It took some very skillful maneuvering on Simone's part to park the van and then to get it back out of the tight spot.

Next stop - Florence, known in Italy as Firenze. We are now settled in our hotel. We had dinner together at 8:00 p.m. in the hotel dining room. This was the first time that Simone has joined us for dinner. We will be exploring Florence/Firenze tomorrow with a local expert guide.

It's been another fascinating day in beautiful Italy.Read more