Towers, Garden & Sunset
May 22, 2013 23:00

Today I visited the towns of Poggibonsi and San Gimignano before class this afternoon. In Global Studies, we explored the stereotypes of Italy by viewing Under the Tuscan Sun. After class, I visited the scenic Boboli Gardens and caught a decent sunset up at the Piazzale Michelangelo. Tonight I was even able to meet up with a friend for gelato who happened to be in Florence for a couple of nights. All-in-all, it was a great day.

The Town of "Poggi" Poggibonsi May 22, 2013 09:00
Poggibonsi – or "Poggi" as Ben and I refer to it – is a small town in Siena outside of San Gimignano. Honestly, we were only in Poggi because that's the way our bus routed us to San Gimignano, but we made the most of our quick stop in the city. After briefly reading the town's Wikipedia entry, it looks like there is a lot of other cool sights to visit (including a small castle that we only saw from a...
The Town of Towers San Gimignano May 22, 2013 10:00
After our brief layover in Poggibonsi, we made it to our final destination: San Gimignano. San Gimignano is in nearly every list of towns to visit in Tuscany because of its fourteen tower houses that are still standing today. The small town is also surrounded by medieval walls giving it quite a unique feel. Like most small towns that I have visited in Tuscany, the landscape outside of San Gimignano's...
Under the Tuscan Sun CAPA Center May 22, 2013 14:30
In Global Studies class today we viewed Audrey Wells' film, Under the Tuscan Sun. The film is based off of Frances Mayes' book of the same name. In the movie, Frances, the main character, in recovering from a bad divorce, decides to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to Tuscany. Naturally, she falls in love with the region and instinctively buys a house. And of course there is a bunch of romance and whatnot...
Boboli Gardens Boboli Gardens May 22, 2013 17:00
After class today, I headed across the Arno River to the Boboli Gardens. I had heard about the gardens, and given that we could get in for free with our museum pass, I really wanted to go. The 16th century garden is behind the Pitti Palace, the original residence of Luca Pitti, a Florentine banker. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to explore the palace, but the gardens were awesome. I probably could have...
A Florentine Sunset Piazzale Michelangelo May 22, 2013 19:00
After visiting the gardens, we were all pretty hungry. We ended up eating at a random restaurant on the south side of the Arno. I got the speciality for that night, lasagna. The lasagna was great, although, it was quite different from the lasagna that I am used to. There was no tomato sauce – it was completely cheese-based. Really good stuff though. After dinner, we made our way up to the Piazzale...