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21 October 1883 — Siena | |
Sunday. 21st October [1883]. Got up at 6—breakfasted & went by 7.40 train which took us to Poggibonsi. There Henry spoke to a man about a carriage to take us to Volterra. We got into a little one horse shay with a miserable looking white horse and the man who drove promised to take us to Volterra for 20 fs providing we went in a lighter vehicle which he called a bagherino. He drove us to his stables in the village & there we saw that a bagherino was a sort of low gig with places for 2 & for luggage to be tied on behind. By the help of two old men our luggage was transferred to it, the little white mare likewise & we were invited to mount wh we did wondering where the driver meant to sit. For a little while after we started he walked by the side—but when the road was flat he explained to us that we were to make place between us & that he would sit there. We did so & he managed very cleverly to squeeze himself in without much inconveniencing us. When we went up hill he got out & walked. In abt 2 hours we got to San Gimignano wh stands most picturesquely on a hill & with its many towers is visible soon after one leaves Poggibonsi. We went to a little inn in the Piazza kept by Signora Giusti and we ordered our lunch & then got the master of the inn to go with us to show us the way to the churches. We went into the Duomo on the Piazza & finding that mass was going on we walked off promising to return later. We went thro’ the town to the church of S. Agostino to see the Benozzo Gozzoli frescoes of the Life of St Augustine in the choir behind the high altar. Thence we returned to the Piazza & visited the Palazzo Publico where saw fine fresco by Lippo Memmi of Virgin & child with saints & angels restored by B. Gozzoli in 1467 & other interesting pictures. We went to our inn next door & got our lunch as we were hungry. We had some excellent “tordi” & some “vin santo” & good coffee. After lunch we returned to the Duomo & went over it & especially admired the chapel of Sta Fina; a splendid shrine in marble by Benedetto da Majano & lovely frescoes by Ghirlandajo representing Sta Fina’s death. They are simple & impressive. We returned to the inn, found our carriage ready & set off again. As we went down the narrow street there were women on either side roasting chestnuts & the fragrant smell made us stop & buy some—but they were not as good as they smelt and as we went along the road I made our driver give them to a small boy in a barocino who was sitting beside an old man– The old gentleman turned round & thank me saying the boy & his little brother had just been left orphans & he thanked me for the child. Our driver was very lively & talkative & kept jumping out to walk up the hills– The little mare went splendidly & one could never have believed she cd go such a pace as she did when we got a flat bit of road– Before very long we came in sight of Volterra standing on the top of a hill but we had to go a very long way round to get at it; the road kept on the top of the hills & there was a deep valley or ravine wh obliged us to go round so that for a long time we seemed actually to be going away from our destination. For the first part of the time the road was pretty & the country wooded & covered with nice farms but as we got farther we found ourselves in a wild volcanic sandy country furrowed by water & the earth left in hillocks wh seemed to have been promiscuously tossed about. At last our heads were really turned towards Volterra. We left San Gimignano at 1 o’cl & at 5.30 just as it was getting dark we found ourselves at the top of the long hill wh is crowned by Volterra & we went to the Unione Hotel where we were welcomed by a picturesque landlady with black eyes & hair & a curled fringe down over her forehead. We got 2 small rooms—wh seemed very clean. We were waited on by a child of 12 whose name was Ferlina and was most active & obliging. Our driver came to be paid & told us his name was Pasquale [illegible word] & we promised to recommend him to any friends who might come this way. A good dinner with excellent tordi was served us in a salotto upstairs & then I wrote my journal. We played cribbage & went to bed. | |
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