Now, with  a mere three weeks left in our stay here in Siena, this beautiful city continues to impress and surprise. A visit to the local Museo dell'Acqua informed us about the underground aqueduct system that supplied water to the city for centuries, right up until the early 1900's.

And we braved the underground tunnels to view the stalagmites and stalactites.

We also visited the local synagogue and was informed about the history of Jews in Siena, and then visited the Enoteca Italiana where we learned about wine-making in different regions and sampled
some fabulous wines.

 

A  tour of the Santa Marie della Scala, a former hospital in use from the 12-20th centuries, with art history professor Piergiacomo Petrioli, revealed a fascinating history and beautiful frescoes by il Vecchietta and Domenico di Bartola.

 In Florence we got to view masterpieces that included; Michelangelo's David at the Accademia and Botticelli's Birth of Venus at the Uffizi Gallery.

 

Students continue to work hard on their travel journals,  as they

explore cafe  life in Siena.

...and  enjoyed coffee before visiting  the Basillica San Domenco and St Catherine's house.

                       Bella Venizia and the Venice Biennale

 We spent four days visiting Venice, focusing on the Venice Biennale, one of the most important international contemporary art exhibitions that takes place every two years in Venice. In addition to two large venues, the Arsenale and the Giardini, there are various "Collateral" events that take place around the city.

The  exhibition was vast and exciting and the students were blown away by the quality and variety of the artwork; installations, video, performance that they viewed.

Siena Week 2

  

We had a busy second week here in Siena.

 The beauty of the city continues to inspire all of us, day and night.

.......and these sentiments are shared by one and all!

The students did some serious sketching and journaling in the magnificent Duomo.

 

After the hard work, we fueled up with some Italian paninis and capucino.

 Painting students got a good start on their series of ten "Italian" paintings.

We all thought it was funny that the tourists were photographing the students while they sketched in  our local  Piazza Posta.

 Afterwards students share and discuss entries in their Tuscan Travel Journals

  A visit to the Istriche (Porcupine) Contrada Museum

 On Thursday, October 10, we had a private tour of the Istriche Museum, one of seventeen of Siena's contradas that vie to compete in the annual Palio races. Only ten get to compete each year and the winning contrada gets awarded the specially commissioned, hand-painted amd embroidered palios (flags). These are some of the Istriche's  beautiful winning palios.

 As the Istriche contrada is our own Silvia's contrada, we were able to get a private tour of the collection. Each of the seventeen contrada has its own museum, club, church and colors.

 

Treno Natura

On Sunday, October 12, a group of us took the Treno Natura, an authentic steam locomotive train through the Tuscan countryside to, Vivo d'Orcia a small village, where we walked through the woods viewing an amzing assortment of mushrooms and afterwards had a hearty porcini-based lunch. 

 It was us and about two hundred Italians on the tour!

 The lunch was worth the wait.

 Vivo d'Orcia is a lovely working Tuscan village.

 ..... surrounded by classic Tuscan scenery.

 We returned to Siena early evening, glad to be "home' again!

Site Director Silvia Minucci keeps things running smoothly with a welcoming smile.

AHA office manager Claudia Todero greets students warmly.

 Thunderstorms on Sunday and some of the students convened at Shelley's apartment for a pot luck dinner.

 After the thunderstorms Siena is as lovely as always!

Enjoying a coffee break between classes.

 

Setting up the studio for Painting Concepts class and preparing panels for painting.

 

 In the AHA student lounge meeting the Italian language faculty.

 Journalism class.

 "The Wave" was the victorious Contrada this year at the Palio, Siena's historic horse race.

Siena is divided into seventeen contradas (neighborhoods). Each one has its own insignia.

 Art History Professor Piergiacomo take the students on an informal tour around Siena. Here we are at the Di Medici Fortress overlooking the city.




Inside the Duomo. The inlaid floors are only on view for one month each year. Lucky us!