Our first family trip since January!!! It felt so good to be out exploring and seeing a new part of Italy after months cooped up in our little apartment! I AM SO THANKFUL. Due to COVID and not a lot of tourists we were able to score an incredible apartment located right inside of the main square Piazza del Campo for less than we usually pay for a small Airbnb. The place worked out perfectly and included offsite parking. We found this listing on AirBNB and i’m sure it’s more expensive during peak seasons when people are allowed to travel, and especially during ‘Palio’ the famous horse race that happens twice a year right in the square!
There was a cute little cafe we grabbed breakfast at in the morning while letting Presley run around the square shooting her arrows at pigeons and people watching (one of my favorite traveling activities)
Siena is bursting with history and there is SO much to do. Even with a long weekend we barely saw 1/2 of the things & I could definitely justify a return trip to see the rest.
Piazza del Campo is this giant square that all the roads lead too. Nowadays its a great place to hang out and let kids run around. The square is lined with restaurants and cafes but there are several points of interest here as well: The Fountain of Joy — (you can actually go underground to see the water system, find more information and tickets here. ) sits at the highest point of the square and used to provide the town with drinking water. Now its just a beautiful fountain that is cleaned out nightly from coins and pigeon droppings. The statues are replicas of the original nude statues that can be viewed inside one of the Museums. There is also the Palazzo Publicco turned museum and the Torre Del Mangia. We were able to visit for free (because of Covid) but couldn’t climb the tower as it was closed! It was great to walk around the museum and to see all the amazing artwork we have been researching for our Scavenger Hunt book.
The Siena Cathedral was next up on our list of things to see & definitely worth it. Tickets were free again but we did have to download an app that would buzz if we got too close to other visitors to help maintain distancing. The exterior reminded me a lot of the cathedral in Milan – but the interior was definitely my favorite church so far.
Right across from the church is the Santa Maria Della Scala which was once a hospital for pilgrims and is now an amazing museum that took us forever to walk through. It was beautiful to see some of the artwork, but I would personally skip this if we were do visit again.
Using Siena as our home base, we did a day trip to San Gimignano, and also drove around exploring Val D’orica. Don’t worry, I’m already planning a trip back to Siena so Presley and I can finish our Scavenger Hunt book we are making for fellow travelers.
I added more pictures & videos to my Siena highlight reel on instagram if you want to see even more 🙂
Thanks for stopping by! XO
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