Livorno & Siena, Italy5 Oct 2009
|
|
Livorno canal
Above Livorno
Livorno market
| Our entrance to Italy was far less scenic than you would imagine if your vision of Italy is of Venice or Rome. Livorno has little to see; it served simply as our entry point into Italy from Corsica to begin our explorations further south, and as an introduction to two of the less appealing aspects of Italy: coperto - Italian for cover charges at restaurants, ranging anywhere from 1.50 to 4 euros per person ($2.25 - $6), and expensive internet. After adjusting, we moved on to Siena, a pretty town in Tuscany. The town is centered on Il Campo, a large, shell-shaped piazza which they convert into a horse racing track twice each summer. There is also a large cathedral which is differentiated from the hundreds of others by its amazing marble-inlaid floor. A day trip to San Gimignano afforded us beautiful vistas of the Tuscan countryside, which we were pleased to find looked just as we had imagined. San Gimignano is a quaint, picturesque medieval town with photo ops at every turn. The only downside was that it is a mecca for day trippers from Florence, so was mobbed with tourists on the Sunday afternoon we visited. |
Advertisement 
|
