Trip to Toscana

The day after my journey to Venice, the whole group took a trip to Tuscany. I had to wake up even earlier than the day before just to sit on a bus for a few hours. Eventually we ended up in Monteriggioni, a small town on the top of a hill that still has its town walls completely intact. It was adorable to say the least. It had great views of the surrounding landscape and cute little houses, but not much else. We only spent about an hour there, and really, more time was not necessary. Very picturesque, but not that entertaining.

After that, we got back on the bus and headed off for Siena, which is also built on a hill. We had a guided tour where we learned about its rivalry with Florence and the annual horse race, the Palio. The cathedral in Siena was gorgeous (as a lot of churches in Italy are). I cannot understand how people were able to create these ornate facades with so little technology. Anyway, inside and out, it was a great church.

The next day, Florence. Again, we had a guided tour, but this one didn’t take us into any of the buildings. We walked around and basically hit most of the major points, Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Vecchio, and of course, the Duomo, which has pretty much the most amazing facade I think I’ve ever seen. Truly incredible in my opinion. While we were walking around, I had a few “I’ve been here!” moments. I honestly did not remember that much about my previous trip to Florence, given that I was only 8, I think it’s understandable. But there were a few times where a memory I did not even know I had popped into my head; it was kind of weird. On the whole, I was not that much of a Florence fan. I can’t really explain why, but I just wasn’t feeling it.

After a bit of free time, we hopped back on the bus and returned to Ferrara. It was an exhausting weekend to say the least, but very interesting nonetheless.

Monteriggioni

Its Walls

The Piazza in Siena

Church in Siena

A Bunch of Pope's Heads

Church in Florence

First View of the Duomo