SIENA at SIX

SIENA at SIX

Ask the question: "Where are the best ciches (snacks) with aperitivos?" and with luck you will find yourself at six in the evening outside Pizzicheria de Miccoli on via Citta near the Duomo. 

     This is a traditional old food shop selling every imaginable type of ham, wild boar and sausages, plus all the local cheeses. You push in through the curtain of multi coloured soft covered ropes, ask for a glass of wine in Italian and bushy-bearded Antonio explains in good English that he only sells bottles or half bottles.

     He takes our Chianti outside and puts a bread board on a barrel and says he will bring some meats and cheese "on the house".  Which he does, plus a white paper bag with slices of bread and a big white napkin.

    At the same time he is chatting with every local who goes by and clearly he is a beloved Sienna character. Antonio makes much of his generous stomach, patting his white-aproned girth and laughs with two passing guys who are slimmer, "because you eat MacDonalds".

    Delicious slices of two types of ham and two generous pieces of cheese plus fresh pesto to dip plus slices of ham and cheese Torta Rustica  - all for the €9.90 price of a half bottle of chianti.  

     Only drawback is you have to stand in the street, but then, as all the world goes by and cast you envious glances,  you know this is the perfect way to end a day of sightseeing. 

      Oh yes, Siena also has an impressive sloping central piazza where they hold the Palio, a horse race every summer, a Duomo with great frescoes and even better floors  and a town hall with historic paintings  and featuring huge frescoes depicting "Good government and Bad government".  

    Now off to Venice

   More later

 Ciao c