The first thing we did as a group was walk across the market square next to our hotel and climb the nearby tower. There were currently thirteen towers in San Gimignano and, at one point in time, roughly sixty, since it was a place of defense in the past.
After the descent, we went to the torture museum, where there were graphic depictions of the devices used to torture people in the past. It wasn’t a particularly frightening place, to be honest, but there was a figure of a man with a dark cloak that covered his entire body in the shape of a coffin, almost, making him seem like an evil priest or something of that sort. We disbanded after the museum and had a short period of free time. We had to leave San Gimignano by bus around noon. I walked around a few nice shops with elegant small sculptures, then most of us got some gelato from the ‘world famous’ gelato shop in the market square.
The ride to Siena really didn’t take all that long, especially after getting used to the bus each time. We started with the Piazza del Campo, stayed there for a while and wandered, then eventually climbed the tower. This one was quite a bit taller than the campanile in Pisa, so we had nice views of Siena. In one direction, there was farmland, and in another, a beautiful city.
The Duomo of Siena was magnificent and had much interesting history behind it, including its incompletion. Once again, the columns possessed the alternating green-white pattern as in Florence.
We stayed in Siena only for a few hours, but it seemed like longer, since we were able to see the most significant structures and areas in the city. We then headed off to the third city of the day, Assisi, where we would stay the night. From outside our hotel, we could see the Basilica of Saint Francis, the person who was most well known here and one of the greatest reasons for tourists. It was already evening by the time we arrived, but we had enough time to wander and find a welcoming, secluded restuarant that gave us an extra pizza for free!
