Siena & San Gimignano

Hey lovers.

In Siena:
RICCIARELLI COOKIES! Aughh I love these cookies, they weren't soft like I usually like them but they melted in my mouth. It was a piece of heaven.

I'm addicted to fun pasta.



Carnivale-dressed kids :)





The pastry shop I got my cookies from

Siena, as Elise described it, had a lot of character. There's a lot of history, with the wards and such. I'm gonna come back and explain more, but basically, the whole city was divided into several small neighborhoods- neighborhoods that were as wide as a few blocks- maybe 3 or so.

In San Gimignano:
Entrance to the city. I swear I saw the Skins twins from Series 2 as we were walking in.

That's not snow; that's confetti.

Carnivale!

Rainy evenings.

San Gimignano is famous for their gelato. It didn't fail me. I had Tiramisu, Terre di Siena, and Mascarpone. Basically a mascarpone orgy because that's what tiramisu is made of, and Terre di Siena had mascarpone in it. No problem there.

The best part about going out that weekend was that there were so many carnivale events going on. There were a ridiculous number of kids dressed up for the festivities, and the streets of San Gimignano were packed. I loved San Gimignano. It was so cute and quiet. I was getting tired of the crazy life in Florence- I just needed to step out.

Siena is a less busy version of Florence. I liked it. It's divided into different wards, or contradas. Each contrada is represented by an animal/mascot, and they are all very competitive. The areas are marked by the mascots/flags. There's the she-wolf, unicorn, dragon, caterpillar (gross), fish, turtle, etc... Several parts of the city have deep economic roots- the banks were practically like emperors and controlled the cities and had a grip on the people with the likes of loan sharks.

Siena is where I got my ricciarelli cookies.

"Today, the biscuits are made using an almond base with sugar, honey and egg white. When prepared in the traditional method, the almonds are ground with a milling machine, and the finished mix is formed into numerous oval- or lozenge-shaped cookies that are set aside for two days before baking. The rough and crackled surface is usually lightly sprinkled with confectioner's sugar." *thank you wiki

I did some research to figure out which ones I wanna try when I go home.

First Recipe
Second Recipe
Third Recipe

+Love+