Highlights of a Recent Tour

Our recent The Marriage of Heaven and Earth tour brought together a marvelous mix of people from all walks of life: the arts, the ministry, teaching, nursing, and professionals from the computer and entertainment industries. The small size of the group (we limit our seminars to fourteen people) made it possible to travel easily and to have spontaneous experiences and lively discussions.

Arrival in Siena. We began our tour on a Monday in Siena with a first look at Duccio's masterpiece, the "Maesta," and enjoyed our first meal together of local Sienese specials and ruby red Chianti from the hills just outside the city. The next day we toured the town by wandering through Siena's unique neighborhoods (called "contradas"), trying to guess the contrada's totem animal from the unique lampposts and door ornaments found in each neighborhood.

The art of Siena is not as well known as that of its more famous neighbor, Florence. Here participants saw many paintings they had never seen in art books, and they fell in love with the drama, fantastic color, and rich imagination that define traditional Sienese painting. Everyone agreed that we had the best meal of the tour in Siena at a little, out-of-the-way restaurant where the chef serves a set menu each night including a rose-colored, homemade aperitif served in powder blue goblets and a dessert plate with five samples of delectables. In between workshops and explorations, lots of shopping occurred: for pottery, leather, panforte, Vin Santo... One woman found an extraordinary pair of brick-red leather boots which many of us envied!

Touring the hills. After Siena we spent three days traveling through the green Tuscan hills. We visited San Gimingnano where we feasted on delicious homemade pasta with truffles and climbed the Civic tower for one of the best views of Tuscany. Next we saw the luminous "Annunciation" by Fra Angelico in Cortona and then went on to visit Piero della Francesca's work in Monterchi and Sansepolcro. In tiny Sansepolcro we found a small town in full Saturday night "passagiata:" everyone from toddlers to grandmothers strolling the streets, stopping to chat, strolling some more.

On to Florence. We crisscrossed the river three times (due to the maze of one-way streets) and arrived in Florence at 6 PM on a Sunday evening with all the bells in the surrounding churches heralding our arrival. We pulled up to our hotel on one of the most fashionable streets in Florence and had a chance to rest a bit before eating our dinner in the cool of the rooftop garden.

Surrounded by eighteenth century tapestries we held discussions (showing slides on a sheet hung from the mantelpiece of the out-of-season fireplace) in the library of our hotel. One of the highlights of our Florence trip was a spontaneous trip to Piazza Michelangelo where we watched a golden sunset light the Duomo burnt-red, before the entire sky turned to India ink blue and the spires of the city silhouette stood out in razor sharp black. Having taken cabs there, we walked slowly back, partaking of a gelato on the way, and pausing to listen to the street musicians in the courtyard of the Uffizi. Ah, Tuscany!