CET Student Correspondent News: Accidental Tourist

According to many travel websites and guidebooks, San Gimignano is one of the top ten cities to visit in Italy, and it is only an hour away on the regional (cheap) train. The town is known for its medieval towers and great scenic views of Tuscany.

San Gimignano

We get off the train and it looks like a scene from the movie The American. This "town" is deserted, most of the windows are boarded up and there are zero towers. We are confused. We rationalize and figure that all the touristy stuff must be on the other side of town and decide to get some lunch. We're starving and about half a mile into town we go inside the first restaurant we see, the Osteria da Camillo. We stand in the doorway for a good 10 minutes, no one comes. Is this place open? 

We leave and try to find another restaurant. An old Italian man wearing a funny hat is sweeping his stoop, this scene looks straight out of some classic Italian movie. We ask him where the restaurants are, he rambles something in Italian, smiles and points towards the restaurant we just left. We return to da Camillo and twenty minutes later, when we're on the verge of passing out, we are seated in a small room in the back of the restaurant. The hostess is the bartender, dishwasher and waitress. Our waiter is the owner. We order a ton of wine, there's fresh bread, cheese plates (Pecorino with honey was my favorite), an antipasto with prosciutto, parmigiano, soppressata, artichoke hearts and crostini with chicken liver spread. I had my first plate of rabbit. 

Coniglio (rabbit)

soppressata

Completely stuffed, we order some caffè because the owner said it would help us digest. I think this is a myth but want it anyway. The owner brings the check and small glasses of Limoncello for everyone (also to "help digest"). I don't believe this either but that doesn't stop me.

Time to find some towers. After 20 minutes of exploring we do see some castles, but they seem to be miles away. We ask a passerby how to get to the center of San Gimignano, and he laughs and tells us it is a bus ride away. We have spent the entire afternoon in the town of Poggibonsi, this is not a typo.

Poggibonsi's bustling city center

The next bus for San Gimignano leaves in an hour, but it's getting late and there is a train that leaves in 20 minutes for Siena, which is about another hour south. Siena is pretty large relative to Poggibonsi but then again, everything is large in comparison to that town. We walk the 3 uphill miles to the center of Siena from the train station. We can hear what sounds like a parade of some sort coming from the main street. We join the parade. The people are dancing and singing along with the beat of these huge drums. Everyone is Italian and dressed in red. We're confused but enjoy walking a few blocks with these people. 

I later learn that the parade we walked along was a communist rally. Apparently Tuscany is very "red" and has a strong communist following. Our day trip was official weird. No towers today, but no real loss either.

Mark Madden

History of Art and Italian Studies in Florence, 

Spring 2011