Gateway into Chianti and getting ‘ripped-off’ in Sienna

Another couple of ‘free nights’ have been enjoyed courtesy of the kind Italians of Greve in Chianti!  The Sosta sits beside a leisure centre and outside pool complex – not that we found time to use it!  We always like to put something back into the town we have stayed at, especially after 2 free nights.  So, we had a short walk into the town and to the Piazza Matteotti, where they hold the Saturday morning market, to buy some fruit and veg. Apparently it has been held every Saturday since the early 14^th century.

The pretty triangular square after the market has packed up and gone:

Greve in Chianti

Underneath the Porticos there are plenty of restaurants, cafés and artisan shops – mostly selling Chianti wine!  

The afternoon was spent on the scooter, going around the Chianti Hills visiting all the little towns.  First stop the small medieval village of Montefioralle, known locally as ‘the castle’, although it no longer has its castle walls.

The circular cobbled town of Montefioralle

Looking down at Montefioralle, across the vineyards

Second stop - Chapel of Pisces, an elegant circular chapel, surrounded by vineyards and built over a spring. It was built to honour the memory of a miracle achieved here in 1050 by St. Giovanni Gualberto.

Hiding in the vineyards next to the chapel!

A little bit of history about the chapel:

A short distance from here we came across the beautiful Abbey of San Michele Arcangelo in Passignano, founded in 1049.  When we arrived the Abbey doors were closed. It is occupied by a few Vallombrosan Monks and apparently, visits are limited.  So, we went in the adjacent 13^th century abbey church, which had some lovely frescos on the walls and ceilings.

Suddenly there was a mass exodus from the church, as the doors to the abbey open.  In our enthusiasm Mel and I rush in and the doors close behind us.  There we were stood with 12 Italians and an Italian guide, who only spoke Italian. Only we could get ourselves on an Italian tour in and around a monastery that would last for 40 minutes!

The monastery has undergone a 10-year restoration and reopened in 2015.

Our Italian is very limited, to say the least but we managed understand a bit of the lingo during the tour, that was until we sat through 20 minutes explaining this picture in the rectory and then we just stared blankly at the picture!

The Last Supper by Ghirlandaio

This ‘Last Super’ fresco was painted by Ghirlandaio in 1476, and is 34 feet by 11 feet.  Ghirlandaio was a contemporary of Botticelli and taught Michelangelo.  It is said to of influenced Leonardo Da Vinci conception of the same subject.

No photos were allowed, but by courtesy of good old Wiki we can put one our blog!
The fresco is the Florentine tradition of visually extending refectory walls with Last Supper scenes so that monks may reflect while dining as if with Jesus in the same room.  The tour was free and we just gave a donation towards the restoration.

From here we continued through a couple of other villages with some fantastic views across the region.

From Greve we continued on the SR222, known locally as the Chiantigiana road that snakes its way between Florence to Siena and through some beautiful parts of Chianti. 
We stopped in the lovely medieval city of Siena for a few hours, first stopping at the Piazza del Campo.  The fan-shaped square is the scene of the famous Palio di Siena, the insane bareback horse race which takes place twice each year, in July and August.  Last time we were here (July 1987) it was covered in sand for said horse race, so it was nice to see it this time around without the sand.

Piazza del Campo

We decided we would stop and have a coffee in the square and people watch for a while.  A quick check of the menu had coffee priced at €3.50, so we sat down and ordered 2 lattes.  Five minutes later coffees arrived along with a hefty bill of €15!! It turned out that it was €5 euros for each coffee and €2.50 each service charge – talk about ripping you off!  The look of horror on Mel’s face was a picture and I wasn’t too impressed either.  Anyway, that said we enjoyed the coffee, had a nice view of the square and enjoyed some free internet for 20 minutes.

Enjoying expensive coffees at Bar Il Palio, Siena

Piazza del Campo

We were even entertained by some drummers and flag wavers in some strange medieval costumes.

We walked passed a lovely ice cream shop on the way to the Duomo – these Italians certainly know how to make good ice cream!

Italian Ice Cream Shop in Siena

Siena’s Cathedral (Duomo) is beautiful, it’s exterior is Romanesque and Gothic design, completed around 1215 with its greenish-black marble inside and out.

And wonderful interior, filled with treasures by Pisano, Donatello and Michelangelo as well as frescoes by Pinturicchio and beautiful inlaid floor panels

Bronze statue of Saint John the Baptist by Donatello

Libreria Piccolomini

Early in the 14^th century attempts were made to double the size of the Duomo by adding on the Baptistry on the slope below, but work had to be halted when the walls and joints gaped under the pressure. 

The Baptistry

The part-extension still stands at the north end of the square – if competed it would have created the largest church in Italy outside of Rome.

The Palazzo Chigi-Saracini – gothic delight with its curved façade and rear courtyard.

Moving on from Siena, we are living it up on a 3 star campsite, La Spiaggia (N43°11’2” E12°9’2”) for a few days, by the shore of Lago Trasimeno.   Mel has been managing the budget carefully for quite a few days and deemed that we could afford a few nights of luxury.  Mind you that was before the €15 for 2 coffees in Siena – enough said!

Sally x