Barry's Travel Blog: Medieval Manhattan, Old Banks and Horse Racing

Day three is in the books with tours of San Gimignano and Siena.

San Gimignano is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany. The town is famous for at least two things. It's Manhattan like skyline and the worlds best gelato.

Unfortunately this isn't a great shot but it's the best I could do at a distance, from a moving bus. It gets the Manhattan skyline idea across.

Another view of the towns towers from a fortress lookout that guards the town. In their time it's said, the towers were a sign of a family's wealth. The higher the tower, the wealthier the family. There are about a dozen towers left of the seventy-two that stood during the 14th century when the "Black Death", took about half of the town's population.

And just like it used to be in Manhattan, these are refered to as the "twin towers" of the town.

Then came the world renowned Gelato makers. There are probably as many gelato shops as there are towers in this town. However the Dondoli shop is the only one that boasts the Gelato World Champion title from wins in the last decade. Have to admit, it was damn fine gelato.

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Now it's off to see another hilltop medieval city. Siena.

The archway in the shot below is the entrance to the home of the oldest continuously operating bank in the world. Monte dei Paschi di Siena was founded in 1472 and today is one of Italy's largest retail banks.

In one ancient courtyard, this bronze sculpture of the "She Wolf" feeding Remus and Romulus (the twin brothers of Roman myth), is the marker of Siena having been claimed as part of the Roman Empire.

The Palio di Siena is a famous Italian horse race that is held twice each year, on July 2 and August 16, at the Piazza del Campo ( pictured below), in Siena. Apparently the rich and famous of Italy pay thousands of euros for track side seats to a single 90 second race. If you check out the races history and search out photos from the event, I wouldn't pay a nickel to be trackside. Check Wikipedia for more info.