Siena

Siena's Mangia Tower, or Torre del Mangia, is the second highest medieval bell tower in Italy, and yes, we walked up the tower's 505 steps! Mangia Tower is on Siena's main square, Piazza del Campo. Piazza del Campo is where, twice a year, the famous Palio horse race is held. Every year, on 2 July and 16 August, sand is laid all around the square and thousands of people come from all over the world to witness this famous race, in the centre of town - crazy eh?

Lovely family photo - oops, spot the Naomi!









Our views from the top.









And photos of the horse race.









We also visited the Cathedral of Siena, Duomo di Siena, which was beautiful, and one of the most intricately decorated cathedrals we have seen. The beautiful mosaic floors were completed over two centuries by many different artists and a lot of the floor is covered up for most of the year. The whole floor is uncovered for the month of September every year.


















And some Christmassy sights around town - I think we have seen every Christmas tree and street decoration in France and Italy being put up in the last few weeks!!













Just liked this little shop, made all the more authentic with bonus Italian shopper!

Love
Est xxx

PS. We are now in Rome, will update soon!