San Gimignano and Siena

              Although I enjoyed every place we traveled during my time in Tuscany, two of my other favorite places would have to be Siena and San Gimignano. Two very different places, yet, I found myself loving something different about each place. We visited San Gimignano first and after spotting it from my room window at the farmhouse, I knew I was going to be fascinated by this place. San Gimignano is a small medieval town in Tuscany, know specifically for its beautiful and lasting architecture. It’s very well known for the towers that remained in the city.

I had no prior knowledge of the town, but I learned that these towers were owned by wealthy and powerful families in the past. The idea was that the taller your tower, the more power you held. In the past, these towers were prominent all throughout cities of Italy, however, most of them had to be torn down because these powerful families would continually fight and riot in the streets of the city for power, making such cities a dangerous and undesirable place to live. With the destruction of these towers in places like Pisa and Florence, it can be difficult to experience what life was really like in the past, however, once I walked through the walls of San Gimignano, I felt that I had gone back in time. Everything there felt so preserved and historic and I loved every second of it. Plus, San Gimignano held a gelateria that had won the World’s Best gelato two times in a row. Nonetheless, I was awesome to visit there. On the other hand, Siena was a very different experience than San Gimignano, but still a great one. My friends Kyle and AJ had already talked so much about Siena because of the Palio di Siena. This is basically a horse race but the racers are all from different parts/ neighborhoods of Siena making it a prideful rivalry between the people in Siena.

What I really enjoyed during my time in Siena was walking through all the different districts. There was a dragon district, and me being a Beta at DePauw, bought and team Dragon flag. Other than the Palio, the city was structurally breathtaking and full of rich and interesting history. If at all possible, I would love to return and experience Siena again.