Siena

Yesterday we took a drive out to Siena, our biggest city so far. There were two main attactions there: Piazza del Campo, the main central square, and the Duomo, the big cathedral. Both were gorgeous and impressive!! Mike and some of the other friends climbed up the big tower (the Torre del Mangia) for some amazing views.

The Duomo is filled with amazing art, from the marble floors to the painted walls to the sculpture everywhere, but my favorite part was the Piccolomini Library, with vibrantly-colored Renaissance frescoes.  Apparently we were there at the right time -- the marble floors are covered most of the year for conservation purposes. 

Of course, we also enjoyed some delicious gelato!  The gelato shop displays were cool -- they were decorated/garnished with the fruit or food that they were flavored with (e.g., the mint had sprigs of mint on it). 
We ended our visit at the Forteza (fortress), which houses a collection of all the wines produced in Italy.  However, to Craig's disappointment, only a tiny subset of them were available for wine tasting.