Siena- Prima Settimana

Ciao! I hope that this finds everyone well. I have made it through my first week living and studying in Siena. I arrived here last Sunday afternoon after a two hour bus ride from Rome. Siena is north of Rome, in the region of Tuscany. It is a small medieval city that still is enclosed by its original walls from around the 13th or 14th century! When my five classmates and I arrived here we headed to the Church of San Francesco where we would are staying and meet Padre Paulo who is one of the friars living here. We dropped our bags off in our rooms and then headed out to see some of the city.

Our first stop was the Dante Alighieri Language School which is where we are studying Italian for the next few weeks. It is about a 15 minute walk from San Francesco and we are studying there with students of various ages from all across the world. I was placed in an intermediate class with 7 other students- two from the States, along with some from France, England, Holland, Switzerland, and Costa Rica. We have lessons for six hours a day (pretty exhausting!) with three hours in the morning with my professor Enzo, and then three in the afternoon with my private tutor Manuela who is teaching us theological language and other important things like the mass and how to go to confession in Italian. I meet with her in private lessons for two hours each day and talk about all sorts of different topics. (she happened to study medieval philosophy in college and loves theology! So it has been fun learning how to talk about the Trinity and grace in Italian!) After five days of class I feel like my language is getting much stronger and it seems that at this rate I should be close to fluent by the end of the month. Please keep us all in your prayers for the gift of tongues!

After seeing the school that Sunday we headed off to see the rest of city- and wow is it beautiful! It is really the little Italian town I have always had in my mind- small stone buildings, with bright colored shutters, flowers, and lots of little café’s and bakeries. But even more than this- it is a city that is filled with the glories of Catholicism! There are beautiful churches around every corner, and lovely frescos and statues of the Blessed Mother and the saints, carved and painted into the side of the houses and buildings! It is such an experience to just walk the streets and to think that these streets have been walked by so many saints, like Saint Catherine and Saint Bernardine, and even ordinary men and women who have seen these same images and worshiped in these same churches for more than eight centuries! We have been going to mass most days either at the basilica of San Francesco which is connected to our residence or to the Casa di Santa Caterina which is a Dominican convent which has been built on the site of Saint Catherine of Siena’s lifelong home! It is truly amazing to celebrate mass in the churches where the saints prayed, and realizing that they are still present with us through the communion of the saints.

The two biggest attractions here in Siena are the Duomo, Santa Maria della Assunta, and the famous piazza del campo. The Duomo is one of the first gothic churches built and it is absolutely gorgeous (it is the church that I am standing in front of above). The cathedral is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, who is the patron of the entire city. On the feast of the Assumption, August 15th, there is a huge festival here in the Siena that goes for a few days. On the 16th there is a famous race called the Palio which is run in the central piazza, the Campo. The Campo is a shell shaped piazza about the size of a baseball field and the main government building and clock tower of the town are there. On the 16th each of the neighborhoods or contradas in the city enter a horse in the Palio which is a race around the outside of the campo. (This was pictured in the opening scene of the most recent James Bond movie if you want to see it in action!) But it is a huge event and all the people get very into it- dressing up in medieval costumes and putting on performances for the days leading up to the race. I will make sure to post pictures and give an account of it when it happens in two weeks.

It has been a great week here in Siena and while the first couple of days of trying to find food for myself, and adjusting to lots of Italian class were difficult, it is a great city and it is going to be a great month! Know that you all are in my prayers and I miss you very much. I hope that you all had a good feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola on Friday! Talk to you soon- I am planning at trip to Florence next weekend so stay posted for a report! May the peace and joy of the Spirit be with you. AMDG. -C