Ciao from Siena! Siena is smaller than some of the more well-known cities in Italy, and is not heavy with tourism, which makes it the perfect place to practice Italian in a genuine setting. After a long flight with a layover, and my first try at practicing Italian in Italy when I asked a lady at the Florence train station where to buy a ticket, I arrived Sunday morning to the apartment I’m staying in for the duration of my trip, which is located very centrally in the city: a 30 second walk from the Piazza del Campo, the city’s main square, and the Duomo, the city’s cathedral. I was greeted with this beautiful view out of my apartment window:
I then explored around the city and was immediately treated to a very unique piece of Siena-specific culture, a parade from a contrada. Contrade, as I later learned in my culture class at the Dante Alighieri Institute where I take language and culture classes each day, are 17 city wards that comprise Siena’s historical center. Each contrada, represented by a singular animal or symbol and colors that also constitute their coat of arms and historical dress, participates in historic displays of pride, rivalries and competition, dinners and gatherings, and other cultural events in the time leading up to the Palio, their signature horse race broadcast throughout all of Italy and held in the Piazza. But more on the Palio later. 😉
Later that night, I had my first dinner in Italy and met the rest of the students in my culture class during my stay here. I tried Tuscan meats and cheeses, and pici con caccio e pepe, a Siena specialty of thick pasta with cheese and pepper. It was delicious.
The next day, I attended my first language course, taught entirely in Italian from 9:10-1:00 each day. The staff at the school were very welcoming, and I immediately felt supported in my quest to improve my Italian, a language I’ve taken throughout high school and for one year of college now. I worked on getting more comfortable with using the subjunctive tense in conversation, and I learned several useful vocabulary words. Ordering pizza for lunch from a small shop near the school was the perfect opportunity for me to practice ordering food in Italian, and it went quite well.
In the afternoon, I attended my culture class, and during the duration of the week I toured the Torre contrada, climbed to the top of Palazzo Pubblico, located in the Piazza del Campo and Siena’s major civil building, viewed several impressive works of art, and went to the archaeological museum at Santa Maria della Scala, featuring Etruscan artifacts. That Saturday, to take a break from all my sight-seeing and language-learning, I went to the Castiglione della Pescaia, a beautiful seaside town with a lovely beach. It was a very busy but very rewarding week, and I felt myself starting to fall in love with Siena.
