Rome, Florence, and Siena within 2 days...

About 2 weeks ago my Italian Cinema class went on a field trip to Rome (Roma in Italian) to see a movie at the Casa del Cinema there and then chat with some influential Italian directors and writers. We watched “The Conformist” (with English subtitles, thank god – my Italian isn’t that good yet). Afterward we had a round table discussion with Dacia Maraini (an Italian writer), Adriano Apra (Italian film specialist in film history and director), and Giuliano Montaldo (Italian director). It was a treat to hear them discuss “The Conformist”. Here’s the best photo I was able to secretively snap of them:




The day after Rome, my entire study abroad program went on our last excursion together to Florence (Firenze in Italian). Florence isn’t too far from Siena – only an hour and a half on the bus. There we went to the Uffizi museum as well as the museum that houses The David statue. Florence was gorgeous, especially it’s duomo.









Upon returning to Siena, I decided to finally take photos of my apartment that I’ve been living in for the past 2 and a half months…
My apartment is more spacious and newer than your typical Italian apartment. I also have a fantastic view of a Piazza. I often sit on my windowsill and watch as contrada’s parade by, people converse in Italian, and vespas zoom all over the place. Oh, one thing about Italian bathrooms – each and every one has a toilet and a bidet. So European.

Exploring Siena and Lucca

I'm sitting in my room, listening to the chatter of Italian in the piazza below my window. There is an unusual amount of people out in the streets of Siena this evening. I'm not sure why, but my guess would be that there is going to be a contrada (one of any of the neighborhoods in Siena) party tonight. That's part of the intrigue of Siena... there's always a lot going on here but only the local Sienese seem to be sure of what it all means. The tourists and students here are left to observe and figure it out for themselves.

A friend recently took me to the botanical gardens here in Siena, located in the Tortuga (tortoise) contrada - one of my favorite parts of Siena. The plants there give off a very relaxing scent and I could see some beautiful views of the Tuscan hills from there.




Not far from the gardens is a charming park that was once a farm. It overlooks part of Siena, a villa owned by a rich family, and more of the shadowy blue hills of Tuscany.

Yesterday my study abroad program took a bunch of us students to Lucca - a small, walled city in Tuscany. Lucca is about 2 hours from Siena and very similar, only with more greenery and less tourists. We took a tour on top of the city walls of Lucca, and then into the town center. It was absolutely beautiful there and the weather was undeniably perfect.










We then went to Villa Reale a little bit outside of Lucca (where my camera battery unfortunately died) which was the villa of Napoleon's sister. It was so incredibly gorgeous and peaceful there. I especially loved the grotto where the inhabitants of the villa used to spend hot summer days (before air conditioning came along). There they had water that sprayed in thin streams out of the ground and statues and ceiling.

I would gladly live in either Siena or Lucca for the rest of my life. The walled cities are so medieval and beautiful, with everything concentrated and within walking distance. I think I'll have to make a trip on my own to Lucca in the upcoming month so that I have more time to explore the city and get to know it better.