Toscana

Three weeks of learning Italian brought me back to Tuscany in 2008, including two very fun outings with fellow students to discover the neighbouring countryside and cities.

Piazza del Campo, Siena

File size 79 kB. Choose JPEG or Java Viewer. A fake 360° view from the Torre del Mangia, composed of four views facing taken from each side and assembled with the tower parts cut off.

Morning

File size 102 kB. Choose JPEG or Java Viewer. The Piazza del Campo, undisputably Siena's most famous place from early in the morning...

Midday

File size 102 kB. Choose JPEG or Java Viewer. ... to midday...

Afternoon

File size 98 kB. Choose JPEG or Java Viewer. ...afternoon...

Evening

File size 86 kB. Choose JPEG or Java Viewer. ..evening...

Night

File size 87 kB. Choose JPEG or Java Viewer. ...to late night, around 11ish. Note that on balmy summer nights the place is decidedly busiest late at night!

Duomo, Siena

File size 123 kB. Choose JPEG or Java Viewer. The duomo with is breathtaking black-and-white interior and its famous mosaic floor.

Vista dal Facciatone, Siena

File size 100 kB. Choose JPEG or Java Viewer. The Facciatone, a leftover from a 14th century Siena hybris thwarted by the plague, affords the best views of Siena and allows to appreciate Siena's medivial towers surrounding Il Campo.

Mercato del Mercoledi, Siena

File size 126 kB. Choose JPEG or Java Viewer. Every Wednesday there is a market around the Fortezza Medicea, where the Sienese do their non-Gucci shopping.

Vista dal Torre del Mangia, Siena

File size 154 kB. Only JPEG. For the sake of historic continuity, compare with my pano a decade earlier where I had had to assemble the pano completely manually.

Vista dal Torre del Mangia (verticale), Siena

File size 97 kB. Choose JPEG or Java Viewer. Wiz around the Torre del Mangia up and down.

Vista da Montalcino

File size 94 kB. Only JPEG. Montalcino, perched high on a hill, affords wonderful views of the surrounding terre senese.

Piazza Pio II, Pienza

File size 106 kB. Choose JPEG or Java Viewer. Pienza was turned into an ideal Renaissance city by pope Pius II of the wealthy local Piccolomini family. The Piazza Pio II exemplifies this with the duomo, the summer residence of the pope, the town hall and the bishops' palace all facing on to one square.

Torre Guinigi, Lucca

File size 149 kB. Choose JPEG or Java Viewer. The Torre Guinigi, the highest tower in Lucca, is in fact also Lucca's treetop garden - the first trees ever that I had seen on a tower.

Piazza Anfiteatro, Lucca

File size 115 kB. Choose JPEG or Java Viewer. Piazza Anfiteatro takes the form of an earlier Roman amphitheatre on the site.

Torre Pendente, Pisa

File size 81 kB. Choose JPEG or Java Viewer. The leaning tower of Pisa is not just famed for its leaning, but a beautiful structure by its own right.

Piazza Maggiore, Bologna

File size 98 kB. Choose JPEG or Java Viewer. Bologna in Emilia-Romagna doesn't belong on a Tuscany pano page, but happened to be my very worthwile sightseeing stop before heading home; that's why I included it. Piazza Maggiore is Bologna's main square with an ensemble of mainly 12th to 14th century buildings.

Torre degli Asinelli, Bologna

File size 146 kB. Choose JPEG or Java Viewer. Bologna was once literally littered with medevial show-off towers, with the Torre degli Asinelli being on of them. With its almost 100 m height it is quite impressive and even intimidating - after all it was built in the 11th century!