After a quite good jazz performance the night before, we headed out into the chilly morning of Siena.
Having seen so many churches since the very beginning of the semester, one would think that it was almost impossible to still surprise us. Siena being a city famous for its medieval aspect and other events, the cathedral sits on top of a hill overlooking the city.
It has an extremely unusual layout as an addition was planned for it, yet was never finished giving it a unique almost intriguing attitude, where one can walk through a portion of the cathedral while being in the piazza surrounding it, as a portion of the facade was indeed finished and now stands as part of another building facing the piazza. One of the walls or facades of this unfinished extension can be climbed on, which we of course did without any hesitation after having had so much experience climbing up all the different domes of important Italian cities and churches.
Perhaps most interesting to see was the layout of the medieval city that reveals itself organic in its layout and extremely dense with small cracks between the buildings’ roofs, with the beautiful landscape scenery behind. Having visited so many historical sites and after having stopped in Bagno Vignoni for lunch, we have arrived to one of the destinations that many of us including me have looked a lot towards, and that is the winery designed by Renzo Piano.
Rocca di Frassinello has organized a short tour of the building and has given us a complete explanation of the process, all of which was probably topped by the visit of the cellar, the most iconic space of the complex.
We could not however leave without trying some of their wine, which we did and has made some of us take a few bottles home as a souvenir, or perhaps for a special occasion.
by Matej Dlabal