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| San Gimignano |
About an hour outside of Siena lies the small beautiful (albeit touristy) San Gimignano. A city of many towers (now, only around 7), it used to have more than 70!
It is also the host of two wonderfully ornate (on the inside) churches-- the Chiesa di Sant' Agostino (Saint Augustine) and the Collegiata. Both holy places were covered in fresco paintings; Sant' Agostino in artwork depicting the life of Saint Augustine, and the Collegiata with various Biblical stories. Neither of the churches allowed photographs unfortunately, but it is to my delight that each place had a bookstore with postcards-- so, I took pictures of those. :) Ha!
This fresco was my favorite of the day. This is a picture of Saint Sebastian (at the bottom with praying hands) holding out his cloak to protect the people of San Gimignano from God and his angels who are hurling arrows at them. Below God, you can see Christ and Mary attempting to gain mercy from God on behalf of those below (Christ shows his side wound and Mary bares her breasts- to show her nurturing side). This fresco was painted mid-1300s during one of the outbreaks of the plague. The arrows that God hurls represent the plague itself, and Saint Sebastian is there as a symbol to pray to for protection from the disease. I love how different this God is from most depictions.
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| The Collegiata |
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| Kerry is finally taking pictures! |
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| Anna and Catherine-- Bill is rushing behind them |
We also visited the Palazzo Commune (like Siena's Palazzo Pubblico).
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| Palazzo Commune |
The palazzo contained the sleeping quarters for the governor. His bedroom was host to many frescos, though most were "questionable" in subject matter (a couple taking a bath, As you can see below, most dealt with sex and lust of some sort. And while many scholars attempt to make the argument that they are depicting the wild times of the Prodigal Son, I have my doubts. It seemed much more like R-rated pics from a Medieval Playboy.
As with most days of travel in Italy, the most important thing is finding a delicious ristorante! One of our seminarians was told by her Italian friends of an incredible ristorante in S.G. So, five of us-- Catherine, Cara, Kerry, Jen, and me-- made our way to Bel Sorggiorno!
The entire backside of the restaurant was glass. Beside our table was a gigantic-sized window which was opened to the cool breeze blowing across the city.
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| The view from my chair! |
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| A house I want to own |
Our first order of business for our Girl's Luncheon was to order the Vino Rosso della Casa (house red wine) and the primi (first course or appetizer). We had a basket full of fresh breads with olive oil and red wine vinaigrette dipping sauce and a cheese plate with various cheeses and mustard sauces.
I ordered Lasagne (called something much longer, but I forget the rest), and what was delivered was a deconstructed pesto lasagna. The bowl was the pasta and the inside was what would've been layered between the pasta pieces. It was, by far, the best thing that I've eaten in Italy (perhaps ever!). Yum!
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| Jen |
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| Me and Catherine |
This fresco was my favorite of the day. This is a picture of Saint Sebastian (at the bottom with praying hands) holding out his cloak to protect the people of San Gimignano from God and his angels who are hurling arrows at them. Below God, you can see Christ and Mary attempting to gain mercy from God on behalf of those below (Christ shows his side wound and Mary bares her breasts- to show her nurturing side). This fresco was painted mid-1300s during one of the outbreaks of the plague. The arrows that God hurls represent the plague itself, and Saint Sebastian is there as a symbol to pray to for protection from the disease. I love how different this God is from most depictions.
Our first order of business for our Girl's Luncheon was to order the Vino Rosso della Casa (house red wine) and the primi (first course or appetizer). We had a basket full of fresh breads with olive oil and red wine vinaigrette dipping sauce and a cheese plate with various cheeses and mustard sauces.
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