Bakers making fritelle
What does it mean to have a truly authentic travel experience? How does one assimilate into a culture if even for a short time? My colleague, Emma (Impavido) and I are in Siena Italy this week to explore these questions and will write daily blogs on our findings here.
Siena is the perfect Tuscan town. Set among the rolling hills of Tuscany, it is a town seeping with civic pride. The town boasts 17 contrades, or neighborhoods, each embodying its own character and each vying for the prized honor of representing their neighborhood at the famous Palio. This horse race occurs twice a year and turns the town upside down in sheer passion and competition. Siena traces back its roots to medieval times; you can feel that its rivalries with other neighboring towns shaped its contemporary civic pride today. Its main square, Piazza del Campo is the joy of the city where you will find wonderful cafes overlooking the Palazzo Pubblico and children playing soccer while Sienese families warmly greet each other.
Today inside Piazza del Campo Emma and I enjoyed a treat offered only during the Lenten season.
Fritelle stavelle, fried rice balls topped with powdered sugar, these treats are celebrated only for a few weeks of the year and in recognition of the life of Saint Guiseppe. There were 10 workers behind this stall selling fritelle and while they were so busy keeping up with the demand of visitors wanting them by the dozens, each worker seemed to know all the locals and families who stopped by the counter. For the Sienese, these are a tradition – something that cant imagine not having during this very religious period before Easter. Taking part in this passage is an authentic, and delicious, experience unto itself.
Aside from holiday traditions and cuisine, authentic travel means doing things you might not necessarily get to experience as a tourist. Tomorrow we will leisurely bike the hills of Tuscany with our local CET study abroad Resident Director and stop along the way to visit a vineyard. While the orange Tuscan sun gently sets in the evening, we may stop off to listen to the hyms of Gregorian chants in a local abbey.
We will keep you posted as to what other gems we discover this week. Buona giornata!
