Episode 08: Siena, “The Bees, you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you” (Stealing Beauty, film)
Welcome to Episode #8: Siena, Tuscany and Chapter 6 of my book and life share...............
In the Shadow of a Cypress: An Italian Adventure.
Returning to to Siena after many years it was wonderful to be sitting and sipping a cappuccino staring at the beauty of the Palazzo Pubblico on my first morning in the Centro Storico of this Unesco World Heritage medieval city.
Siena is an obvious choice if visiting Florence, an hour and a half away on the train or by car through majestic countryside and you find yourself in city like no other. Once upon a time it was a stop on the pilgrimage route as the pilgrims came from the south to Rome along the Via Francigena.
With its expansive fan shaped piazza, Gothic Duomo, wonderfully dark secretive streets and Renaissance treasures there is much to discover and enjoy inside and outside of the medieval walls.
I cannot wait to go back and find myself a little agriturismo and see the Sienese light again. I will take that little book I mentioned in the episode and explore the hills of Chianti in the vein hope that we do end up lost near a vineyard or two.
And then there are the gardens and villas to visit nearby like Villa La Foce and Villa Chigi, do some research there are many......
Show-Notes:
Stealing Beauty film (1996)
Back Story: Back in the 1990s film maker Bernardo Bertolucci was inspired to create “Stealing Beauty” a film set outside of Siena in the romantic hills of Tuscany. Inspired by his friend and artist Matthew Spender (his stunning sculptures are all through the divine villa on the hill) and his wife and fellow artist Maro Gorky (daughter of Ashille Gorky).
Now some the critics may have thought this film didn't quite make the grade, but I loved it . And believe it or not still am happy to watch it with absolute attention to all detail. The romance and the magic of countryside but more alluring the layered friendships that are cultivated around art and beauty were intriguing and inspiring to me.
So there, and if you do know the film another little side note is that the book that appears in the beginning of the film while the character Lucy sleeps in the train on her way to Siena is written by Matthew Spender, ‘Within Tuscany: Reflections on a Time and Place’ and is a great read if you are a bit of an Italophile like me and want a deeper look into the heart of rural Tuscany and its people and landscape.
Continued…..
Within Tuscany: Reflections on a Time and Place by Matthew Spender
A Tuscan Childhood by Kinta Beevor
Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany by Frances Mayes
War in Val d’Orcia by Iris Origo
Stephanie Alexander & Maggie Beer’s Cookbook: Recipe and Reminiscences from their Italian Cooking School. This is the book I found in the bookstore in Siena that I then discovered a few days after arriving home in local nursery's kitchen display which was such a surprise that I bought it immediately.
A cookbook to remind you of the Sienese countryside
Possibilities:
Exploring Tuscany’s Chianti Countryside: Four Excursions out from Radda and Gaiole in Chianti by Nancy Shroyer Howard & Richard Mello
The colourful flags of each Contrade in the medieval city of Siena / Michelle Johnston
Osteria Trombicche Vinaio on Via delle Terme, 66, 53100 Siena
* Where I sit and write about the wonderful meal I enjoyed while keeping up with the “friendly Sienese man who is happy to oblige me, as long as I am not a complete tourist”............. “the food is local, simple, unpretentious, seasonal and delicious” just in case you wanted to go there.......Quote from the Podcast Share……
The Beauty of Siena and the Piazza del Campo / Michelle Johnston