Ciao! I've finally settled into my apartment and a routine here in Florence, and shortly after moving in, I took a day trip with about 20 other girls in FIT Florence to Siena and San Gimignano! We loaded up a bus at 9 am and spent about two hours in each city, wandering the streets, seeing piazzas and churches, and of course, eating lots of pizza and gelato! Here are some of my favorite pictures from each city!

San Gimignano

San Gimignano is a small Medieval-walled hill town about an hour from Florence. It's streets wind up and down the steep hills and are lined with beautiful stone buildings, gothic towers, and ancient ruins.

If you have the endurance to climb to the top of San Gimignano, the view of Tuscany is absolutely breathtaking (very first picture up top) 

If you can handle the gross and morbid, San Gimignano is also home to the Museo della Tortura (Torture museum) and while I did not visit while I was there (no thank you!!) the museum strives to work against the use of torture and the death penalty. 

Siena

Next up we drove another hour over to Siena. This gorgeous city is also filled with uphill treks (a natural stairmaster) but it's so worth it to see the candy colored buildings and shadow-clock Piazza del Campo (you can tell what time it is by which part of the piazza is shaded!)

And even more fun, they we're still celebrating Pailo while we were there (a horse race held in Siena every July and August) and the two contrade (basically neighborhoods) that won were parading through the streets with drums and flags dressed in medieval costume!

Finally we visited Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta, which is the main church in Siena, and wow the architecture was stunning!

Arrivederci,

Audra