Day 16: Tuesday, May 6, Assisi/Cortona/Siena

As close as I got to Cortona on this trip.

Today was a disappointing day, quite honestly. The plan was to hit Cortona as a day trip on the way to Siena for the night. I enjoyed Cortona when I was here before, and it is even more “small-town Italian” than Assisi. It only merits 3 pages in Rick Steve’s Italy, guaranteeing that it will be pretty tourist-free. However, part of the reason it isn’t a big tourist draw is that it isn’t particularly easy to get to, as we found out. I had tried to find a bus from Assisi to Cortona, but didn’t easily find one and didn’t press it too hard. The train had worked well for us before. When we arrived in Cortona, however, the train station’s baggage check was closed and the bus that runs hourly to take passengers up to the hilltop didn’t arrive at all while we were there. I talked to two locals who didn’t know of any taxi service. We ended up poking around Camucia, the “down-hill suburb” of Cortona, and eventually packing up and leaving earlier than planned for Siena. It wasn’t a total waste, however, because Camucia was the most “modern, real Italy” we will probably see. It’s built on the lowlands, doesn’t have any tourist draw (except those passing through to Cortona), and everywhere else we are staying relatively close to the places of interest to tourists.

Our train to Cortona was very different from the others we have traveled on. It was only three cars long and they were all attached, so it was a single unit. It had a futuristic-looking interior, with interesting lighting and four sets of “lounge-style” circular seating. However, it was a bumpier and choppier ride than the other trains we have ridden.

A typical Tuscan hill town street as seen in Siena.

When we arrived in Siena we went to drop our bags where we were staying. When I looked at it online I thought it was a B&B/hostel-type place with the owner living there (it was called Casa di Antonella). However, it was an empty apartment that the lady rented out by the room. There was a kitchen, but the cooking items were nasty and didn’t look like they had been cleaned in a while so we decided not to make our own dinner. My room had a small ceiling fresco and a tiny porch that was very nice. When we arrived we also found out that there had been a miscommunication between me and Antonella, and in trying to get things worked out we found out that she spoke “reservation English” and almost nothing more.

When we went out to eat we were at a table next to a couple of American girls who were studying there in Siena, one from Fordham and one from Villanova. They gave us a quick overview of the town that was helpful.

A Siena dusk.

That night we wandered around town, particularly to Il Campo (“the” campo). Siena is known for a horse race that occurs here twice a year; each neighborhood enters a horse and they race around this square. It’s roughly semicircular and slopes down toward the “town hall” building.

The other guests at our apartment were four Canadian medical students doing their residencies in Halifax. They were over for a conference in Rome and had extended their trip. Most were just in Italy for a week before their conference, but the obvious “travel leader” of the group had spent six weeks traveling in Dubai and Africa prior to joining everyone else in Italy. I found it humorous that the Africa traveler had just a small backpack (I pack light, but I was a little dubious about traveling that long on what looked like a daypack), while one of the just-Italy guys had a monster suitcase that must border on oversized luggage.