In this corner, weighing in with a population of 56,672, a spry 1700-2200 year old founded by the Etruscans, home to such greats as Santa Caterina da Siena, Guido da Siena, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, and Simone Martini, and wearing the black and white shorts, I give you...
SIENA
And in this corner, weighing in with a population of 370,000, a fiesty 1910-ish year old, founded by the Romans, home to such greats as Dante, Boccaccio, Brunelleschi, DaVinci, Michelangelo, and wearing a whole lotta red, I give you...
FIRENZI
which sounds better than...
FLORENCE
but might be a bit confusing at first, so now you know what I mean.
And those are pretty much the only facts you're going to get from me on this one.
PREPARIAMOCI A ROOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMBAAAAAAAAAAA!
Tondo Uno: Streets & Buildings
Round One Ladies and Gentlemen is streets and buildings.
And Siena comes out swingin' with it's medieval charm.
Nice one two combo with the lantern thingies and a good follow up with the door.
Strong play by Siena with the Piazzo del Campo. Sure, no horses right now, but still a solid hit.
Some pretty foot work in this first round by Siena with the Fonte di Gaia. All of the virtues are on display, and Siena may need all of their help to win this battle.
Oh and a solid follow through with St. Augustine's.
Firenzi came out dancing and seemed to just let Siena use up some of her energy but now she's fighting back.
Oh that Renaissance charm... wider, brighter streets, and so much bustle certainly gives Firenzi some reach over Siena.
Oh, and there's the classic Firenzi counter to Siena's Piazza del Campo, the Pont Vecchio spanning the Arno river. Certainly a favourite with the fans.
And a solid end to the first round by Firenzi with the Italian equivalent to Westminster Abbey, the Basilica of Santa Croce. I had no idea that Jim had a church in Italy named after him, but it's a who's who of Italian greats buried in there: Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, the list just keeps going.
Tondo Due: Other Stuff
After the first round you'd think Siena might want to slow things down but she's right back at it throwing whatever shot she's got to see what lands.
Oh, and she's pulls the ol' Romulus and Remus story out of her bag of tricks. Sure these brothers who were raised by a she-wolf argued over what hill to plant it on, and sure Romulus ended killing Remus, but not before Remus had two sons of his own, Sienus and Aschius, who, according to Roman legend, founded Siena.
And a solid second round by Siena.
Sorry Firenzi, even if they are locked to the Pont Vecchio, I don't think the locks are gonna cut it against something like being raised by a she-wolf.
Ya, that might do it.
And if not then that most certainly will. Great left-right with the statues of The Rape of the Sabine Women and Hercules Beating the Centaur. Bet you Siena's feeling like that centaur was right now. She can breathe a sigh of relief though as Firenzi doesn't seem to be bringing any more of the Loggie dei Lanzi or the Piazza della Signoria into play.
Turtles holding up an obelisk.
Interesting close Firenzi.
Tondo Tre: Duomo
Now here's where they really lay it down.
Duomo vs. Duomo ladies and gentlemen.
Bring it on Siena.
Lovely exterior in a spacious piazza.
Exquisite, detailed interior.
Magnificent altar.
Golden dome.
Fantastic floors, featuring mosaic work and cartoons.
A beautiful baptistry.
And as an added bonus the Cathedrale di Santa Maria Assunta (it's actual name) is showing off the library.
Strong round by Siena, let's see how Firenzi follows up.
Jaw-dropping exterior.
And what a dome. Somewhere in the top five largest domes in the world, Basilica Santa Maria del Fiore's (this Duomo's actual name), designed by Brunelleschi, is an engineering marvel that you should just go read about, or watch a documentary on as they've now figured out how this monster got built in the first place. (It's been a bit of a mystery apparently.)
This seems to be where all the effort went though. A vast interior, inspiring awe no doubt, but not up to the magnificence of Siena.
Unfair play climbing the dome.
A simple yet elegant altar, but again, no Siena.
A glorious interior to the dome.
Nice floor, but ohhhhhhhh... pretty basic when you look at the competition.
Just a beautiful baptistry though.
And sure, maybe no library, but how about a great view down the outside of the dome.
Tough round there for both contenders. Each giving as good as they got. Where one pummeled on the exterior, the other battered hard on the interior.
Tondo Quattro: Views
Second last round of the match and it's still pretty close. Time to offer up some simple views of the city.
Pretty nice Sienna.
Alright, let's see what Firenzi can do to counter that.
Playing the Arno, nice start.
Oh, and taking advantage of that over 500-step climb to the top of the dome to get an aerial in. (Domial I guess we'd call them.)
Tondo Cinque: Food
Last round and both cities are going right for the gut.
Siena serves up a delicious pappardelle with wild boar ragu, a local classic.
And Firenzi gets a final KO punch in with the best frickin' gelatto I've ever had.
And there's the final bell.
Okay.Not sure that that worked the way I had wanted it to, but what the heck, I figured I'd try playing around with the narrative a little. Hopefully you haven't suffered too much, and at least Rich can't accuse me of digressing this time.
I've heard a few times that people who know Italy, and specifically Tuscany, tend to lean either towards Siena or Firenzi. Not that other places aren't good, but when considering these two cities, people tend to have a preference for one over the other. And they apparently get compared a great deal.
Now me, no competition, I'm all for Florence. Siena was lovely, but if I had to choose between the two, I would choose Firenzi, Florence, or whatever you want to call the place. And I've got Jake to thank for me going. He, Noah, and I visited Florence last summer, so I hadn't really intended on returning to it so soon. But I was skyping with the guys, and Jake said I needed to go and climb the Duomo. He also assured me that there was gelatto at the top, which is not true, but is still a great incentive. (Maybe it's soda at the top of St. Peter's - there's something at the top of one of these domes, I'm positive I heard that last summer too). Anyway, so being back in Florence, climbing the Duomo (which we didn't do last year), and finding the best gelatto I have ever tasted, made for a good time. And it was nice to be somewhere that felt kinda familiar. The last time things felt familiar was in Stockholm, so after a month-and-a-half or so of all new, it was nice to walk streets that I had vague recollections of previously wandering, even if only for a day.
Now. I didn't know where to put these in the above, and people keep asking for pics of me, so here. One from each place. I doubt either would have tipped the scales in the match.
That wraps up Tuscany. I mean, I might come back and chat some more about it some time, but for now, given that I've been in Morocco for over ten days and spent a week in Barcelona before that, I probably need to get this blog moving on, or else it will become lost and more prone to wandering than it already is.
There is nothing at the top of St-Peter's cupola except the outdoors, the air you were missing the whole way up, and a lovely view of Rome and the Vatican city. - Allie
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