Happy 4th!

Time to say something more about Italy. First off, if you haven't checked them out yet, all the pictures are up on my flickr site .

There are two sets devoted to pictures from Italy. The first focuses on the small towns, including the town we stayed in (Montepulciano) and countryside of Tuscany. The second set contains pictures from the cities we visited, Siena, Florence, and Rome.

What can I tell you? Montepulciano sits atop a small hill. The streets are narrow, sometimes only alleys that cars can just barely squeeze through, but have to share with pedestrians and cats nonetheless. Most of the turns are blind; you just don't know what is coming up next. Since we didn't necessarily know how to interpret all the road sings, one time we found ourselves going down a street that turned into stairs! Backing up, uphill, to avoid the imminent danger was interesting. Things are much easier as a pedestrian, if you don't mind climbing up and down streets and stairs all day long (we didn't, for the most part).

The cutest, quaintest town we visited was Pienza, the perfect renaissance town, designed by Pope Pius II. The main part of town consists of cobblestone walkways and beautiful stone buildings. I think the residents in this part of town have a contest for who can grow the neatest garden around their doorway. Check out these pictures to see what I mean:

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As for all the sunset shots, we had a cool balcony off the kitchen. I couldn't resist trying to capture a couple of the sunsets.

Also among these pics are some of an abbey, Sant'Antimo, where we stopped to listen to some monks chanting their prayers. Very austere, but beautiful. I admit that I started to fall asleep, the chanting was so soothing and hypnotizing. I didn't feel too bad about it because one of the monks was yawning towards the end. Around the abbey were some old and amazing olive trees.

Highlights from the big cities:

Siena is fantastic. Would be a great place to stay, particularly if the hustle and bustle of bigger, more touristy cities doesn't appeal to you. It is surrounded by the typical beautiful Tuscan landscape. The Duomo is a perfect example of Italian Romanesque architecture (notice the black and white stripes on the outside of the building, which is recapitulated inside).

Sculpture. Two Pietas by Michelangelo: the first in my set, which he carved when he was about 80, is in a museum in Florence, the second, more famous, is in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome - I can't believe he was only 23 when he made this one. In the Duomo in Siena I took a picture of a sculpture of St. Peter also by Michelangelo. The real standout piece I saw, though, was the Mary Magdalene by Donatello. It's a grisly portrayal, a woman, thin beyond belief, withered by age, covered only by her long, unkempt hair. Her hands are up as if to pray. (I think she is supposed to be clasping a chalice actually.) From behind though, to see this sad figure permanently standing in front of Jesus on the cross... well, I found it moving, and I'm not even a religious person.

St. Peter's is ridiculous in it's enormity and excess.

The Pantheon is graceful, elegant, and, well, classic. I wish I could have stayed inside longer, but they were starting mass. (They were also having mass in St. Peter's when we were there. Can you imagine going to mass in one of these buildings? Talk about a religious experience.) You have to know about the Pantheon, if you don't already. Built about 100 AD, only a couple decades after the Colosseum, it is the most well preserved building from the Roman Empire. The dome still stands as the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world - I have to cite wikipedia here. What I read before was that it is the widest though not the tallest dome (nothing in Rome can stand taller than the dome at St. Peter's). The wikipedia entry contains other interesting architectural details - the height and width of the dome are equal, and the thickness of the concrete varies as you move from the base of the dome to the oculus, an oddity uncovered by Brunelleschi (I believe), who drilled holes at various places to determine how the dome was made (perhaps before starting on the design of his own very famous dome for the Duomo in Florence?). The only light coming into the building enters through the oculus at the crest of the dome, which is a great effect and obviously symbolic.

What about things I couldn't take pictures of? Even if you don't go to a single museum or church (which would be crazy stupid), a trip to Tuscany would be worth it for the food and wine alone. It's not necessary to order fancy wine at any restaurant - probably true for all of Italy - the vino di casa goes well with the hearty Tuscan dishes. I am partial to the pasta dishes, ragus made with rabbit or wild boar meat, perfectly soft gnocchi, and ravioli stuffed with anything (for example, porcini mushrooms) and served with butter and green peas.

For the rest, you just have to experience for yourself. Everything tastes and smells better, every tree and branch and vine perfect, every hill town picturesque. Life is better in Tuscany. And don't forget to have a lot of gelato.