PART
8: Fortezza Medecea & Good Italian Food
From the mid 13th to mid 14th century Siena
was a major banking, trading, and military power. Florence (50 miles up the road) was its chief
rival, but both cities were of equal status.
In 1348 the Black Death struck Siena and a third of its population died.
The city never recovered and Florence began to dominate the rivalry, finally
conquering Siena in 1550. Duke Cosimo
Medici, a Florentine, who eventually became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany,
ruled Siena. So to protect Siena from
rebellious Sienese troops trying to re-conquer the city, Cosimo commissioned a
protective fortress. It was completed in
1563 and remained a fort until the end of the 18th century.
In 1937 after a major restoration, it was made into a public
park. Today it houses an Enoteca promoting the local wine industry, is the home
of the Siena Jazz Foundation, a jogging track, and a great place to stroll or
sit and relax. Outside the walls are
parking lots that help keep the city a car-free zone. The fortress built to repel invading rebels
now repels the polluting, traffic-congesting auto. Re-cycling at its best.
Eating in
Siena
We stayed in Siena for three nights and had three fine evening
meals. Trattoria Tellini on Via
dei Terme about 2 blocks from our B&B is a small family run 12 table place
that opens every night at 7. The food was
very good - Pici with Cinghale for me, grilled polenta with basil, mushrooms
and tomatoes for Bonnie, and a plate of very good grilled veggies that we
split. With house wine, and panforte for
dessert we paid less than 40 euros.
Another night we ate at La Taverna di Cecco. Rick Steves’ Guidebook describes this as a
comfortable little eatery on an uncrowded back lane serving tasty salads and
Sienese specialties made from fresh ingredients for a fair price. That’s accurate; and I will add a really
knowledgeable waiter. It’s at Via Cecco
Anggiolieri 19, a 5 -10 minute walk from Il Campo.
One night we had a do it yourself meal in our room. We bought pizza, fresh fruit, salad and
dessert at the Consorzio Agrario Siena, a small Whole Foods like grocery
that sells all kinds of food products from Tuscany. It’s an agricultural cooperative that has a
wine bottling plant and agricultural supply stores in other Tuscan cities. It was crowded and confusing but the pizza
(even though only room temp when we got it back to the B&B) was very
good. See the comments on TripAdvisor
for more descriptive information.
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