Let's Go Europe 2011: The Student Travel Guide
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From the ticket booth, ahead and downstairs. €3. Combined ticket with other Duomo sights €12, students €5. Open daily June-Aug 9am-8pm; Sept-Oct 9:30am-7pm; Nov-Feb 10am-5pm; Mar-May 9:30am-7pm.
PALAZZO PUBBLICO
P. Il Campo 1
MUSEUM, PALAZZO
0577 29 26 14 www.comune.siena.it/main.asp?id=885
This grandiose town hall, begun in 1297, forms the lower wall of Il Campo. Built to show up hotshot Florence, the tower here is slightly taller than that of its rival’s. (Proving that size doesn’t matter, Siena was decimated by the Black Death shortly after the tower’s completion, while Florence went on to become the birthplace of the Renaissance.) The palazzo is also home to the Museo Civico, which showcases the building’s elaborate frescoes and architecture, including a chapel with a fantastic wood-carved choir and a series of paintings illustrating the unification of Italy. Also includes a tower with great views over the city.
It’s the big thing at the bottom of Il Campo. Museum €7.50, students €4. Tower €8. Both €13. Museum open Mar 16-Oct 10am-7pm; Nov-Mar 15 10am-6pm.
FOOD
Thanks to Siena’s slightly higher population of homegrown residents than those of similar Tuscan cities, the town has a large number of groceries and delis—great news for cheapskates. Avoid the restaurants that border Il Campo unless you want to pay €9 for a bowl of pasta.
LA PIZZERIA DI NONNO MEDE
V. Camporeggio 21
PIZZERIA
0577 24 79 66
It takes a little bit of effort to find this pizzeria, but that’s because it’s hiding itself for the locals. There’s a bunch of patio seating overlooking the town skyline, and on clear summer evenings, every inch of that seating will be packed.
There are stairs behind Fontebranda that lead uphill and to the right—they’ll take you there. Cover €1.60. Pizza €5-7.50. Primi €6-7.50. Open daily noon-3:30pm and 7pm-1am.
LA FONTANA DELLA FRUTTA
V. delle Terme 65-67
GROCERY
0577 40 422
For a budget lunch, you can’t beat the takeout counter at this corner grocer. The packaged goods and produce are reasonably priced and lovely, but head to the counter for excellent cold pastas, stuffed tomatoes, sauces, and vegetable dishes sold by the kilogram.
At the corner of V. S. Caterina. Most pastas around €11 per kg. Open daily 8am-8pm.
SALE E PEPE
V. Garibaldi 23
RISTORANTE
0577 60 00 89 www.ristorantesalepepe.it
This extremely affordable dinner option is making a funny in its name—it’s just off Piazza del Sale, you see, and Sale e Pepe means salt and pepper. Not laughing? A better reason to eat here are the dozen pastas that come with 0.5L of water and a coffee (€5.50).
Off P. del Sale. Pasta, secondo, water, and coffee €10. Open daily 11am-11pm.
SAVINI
V. dei Montanini 9
BAKERY
055 91 21 61 www.dolcezzesavini.com
Since 1959, this bakery has been producing delicious Sienese specialties like panforte, a sort of trail mix from the Crusades now sold by the paper-wrapped block, and ricciarelli, sugary almond cookies. Savini now has locations in half a dozen Tuscan cities.
From P. Gramsci take V. Cavallerizzo, then turn right onto Montanini. Most pastries €1-2. 50. Open M-Sa 7:30am-7:30pm, Su 8am-1pm.
NIGHTLIFE
There are plenty of nice bars in Siena, but the cheerful efforts of the student population have brought about a true BYOB scene. Pick up a couple of bottles and head to II Campo for the nightly block party. The tourist-trappy restaurants surrounding the piazza become tourist-trappy bars at night, so load up elsewhere to avoid €8 pints.
SAN PAOLO PUB
Vicolo San Paolo 2
PUB
0577 22 66 22 www.sanpaolopub.com
For reasonably priced drinks and food that’s almost on Il Campo—if you sit outside and crane your neck a bit, it’s like you’re there—this alleyway pub is your best bet. It’s small enough to seem crowded all day, and the alley allows for spillover when the place is legitimately crowded at night.
In a little covered alley, just off Il Campo—it’s 1 of the streets directly opposite the Palazzo. Beer €4.20. Cocktails €5. Hot and cold sandwiches €3.50. Open daily noon-2am.
ENOTECA ITALIANA
P. Libertà 1
ENOTECA
0577 22 88 11 www.enoteca-italiana.it
Unique to Italy, the Enoteca Italiana is a public institution founded in 1960 to educate the people about Italian wine and wineries. The collection includes over 1600 different wines—1607 at last count, according to one waiter—which are presented on a rotating tasting menu each week. At €11, they’re fairly reasonable, considering you’re getting educated and tipsy at the same time.
Inside Fortezza Medicea. Tasting menu of 2 glasses of wine €11. Open M-Sa noon-1am.
CAFFE DEL CORSO
V. Banchi di Sopra 25
BAR
0577 22 66 56 www.caffedelcorsosiena.it
If you’ve been mystified by Italian distinctions between different types of cocktails, then Caffe del Corso is here to help! One wall of this corner pub is covered with the drink list, helpfully divided into categories like aperitivi (Bloody Mary, martini, cosmo), after dinners (margarita, Sidecar, whiskey sour), and long drinks (Screwdriver, Gin Fizz, mojito). The drinks may have lots of distinctions, but they have one thing in common—they all cost €5.
2 blocks up from Il Campo, on the right. Cocktails €5. Open Tu-Su 8:30am-3am.
DUBLIN POST
P. Gramsci 20/21
IRISH PUB
0577 28 90 89 www.dublinpost.it
Yet another Irish pub in Italy. You know the drill. This one has a lot of outdoor seating.
Directly across from the end of the bus lines. Beer €5. Open M-Sa noon-1am, Su 3pm-1am.
ESSENTIALS
Practicalities
• TOURIST OFFICES : APT Siena provides maps for a small fee. Also has pamphlets, brochures, and a bookstore. (P. del Campo 56 0577 28 05 51 www.terresiena.it Right in Il Campo; look for the ”i.”)
Emergency!
• POLICE: (V. del Castoro 1 Near the Duomo.)
• HOSPITALS/MEDICAL SERVICES : Santa Maria alle Scotte. (Vicolo delle Scotte 14 0577 58 51 11 Take bus #3 or 77 from P. Gramsci. Open 24hr.)
Getting There
Siena is surprisingly difficult to reach. Coming from Florence is easy, but if you’re arriving from elsewhere, you’re almost certainly going to have to transfer train or bus at least once.
By Bus
Siena is one of the few Italian towns that possesses a train station but might actually be better reached by bus. From Florence at least. TRA-IN/SITA (0577 42 46 www.trainspa.it) buses drop off in P. Antonio Gramsci, about 5min. north of P. del Campo. (Some also drop off at the train station, see below.) The ticket office is in the underground terminal. ( Open 7am-7pm.) From Florence. ( €6.80. 90min., at least 1 per hr.) By Train
The train station is in Piazza Rosselli, 15min. outside town by bus #3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 17, or 77. (Ticket office open daily 6:30am-1:10pm and 1:40-8:10pm.) Trains arrive from Florence ( €6.30. 90min., every hr. 8am-8pm.) and Poggibonsi. ( €2.40. 30min., 2 per hr.)
pisa
050
This is what Pisa has to offer: one tower, leaning. One airport, budget airline hub. Three universities.
That may not sound like much, but the tower is actually really cool, the airport is remarkably easy to get to, and the universities, well, you can thank them for the city’s many student-friendly bars. If Florentine nightlife left you doubting the Tuscan party scene, come to Pisa, where the density of pubs will leave you leaning at a 3.99° angle too.
Unless you’re visiting someone at one of the universities or flying out of the airport, however, there’s little reason to stay overnight in Pisa. The tower doesn’t take long to see, and the theoretically picture
sque alleys along the Arno would be far more charming if they didn’t smell like urine. Let’s Go recommends staying a night or two in nearby Lucca, and making Pisa a half-day trip from there.
ORIENTATION
Whether arriving in Pisa by train or by plane, you will enter the centro via the train station. The city knows why people visit it, so street signs bearing the image of a leaning tower and an arrow are abundant. When you leave the station, you will be south of the Arno—the Piazza dei Miracoli is on the other side of the river, in the northwest of the centro. Follow either the “Torre” or “Centro” signs to get there. Otherwise, walk straight—leaving the stazione you will be on Corso Italia—to reach the river.
ACCOMMODATIONS
Those staying overnight in Pisa are likely in transit—therefore, our picks weigh access to the train station and airport over proximity to the tower.
WALKING STREET HOSTEL
C. Italia 58
HOSTEL
393 06 48 737 www.walkingstreethostel.com
This hostel is nice enough to make you wish you had a reason to stay in Pisa longer. The dorm rooms that face C. Italia have an entire wall of 300-year-old stained glass—that’s floor-to-ceiling stained glass, in your dorm room—and common space is plentiful and comfortable, with a pool table and dart board in two Chinese-themed red lounges.
On C. Italia, equidistant between the train station and the river. Dorms €22.
HOSTEL PISA
V. Sainati 8
HOSTEL
349 68 88 446
If you get the sense that some dude just decided to turn his house into a hostel and called it Hotel Pisa, then you are absolutely correct. Carlo is a backpacker himself, but the sort who cares more about community than security. If you’re the same, you’ll love it here. Also lends out bikes, which is helpful since this is a bit far from the centro.
Leave the train station at track 14, take a right onto V. Quarantola, then, after 5min., make a left onto V. Sainati. Dorms €20.
HOTEL HELVETIA
V. Don Gaetano Boschi 31
HOTEL
050 55 30 84
Our pick for slanty-building-proximity is this lovely bargain hotel with a beautiful, well-kept garden that proudly features a cactus to rival the city’s famous tower. Four floors of private rooms have brick trim, ceiling fans, wood shutters, and iron bedstands.
V. Don Gaetano Boschi begins in the southeast corner of P. dei Miracoli. Only 1 wheelchair-accessible room, which is a suite. Singles €35; doubles €45, with bath €62; quad suite €100.
ALBERGO ARISTON
V. C. Matti 42
HOTEL
050 56 18 34 www.hotelarisonpisa.it
You are paying for extreme proximity to the monuments here—many of the rooms have a view dominated entirely by a certain crooked belltower. (Of course, the prime real estate also comes along with a certain amount of noise and bustle.) Otherwise, the chambers are simple doubles with iron-frame queen beds. In the lobby, a bar and a few leather armchairs surround a TV.
Just outside the east gate of P. dei Miracoli. Doubles only. Doubles €70-90.
RELAIS UNDER THE TOWER
V. Santa Maria 165
HOTEL, HOSTEL
050 52 00 231 www.hotelpisacentro.it
Twins and bunk beds share rooms in this semi-hostel where rooms are private or dorm depending on demand. Though it can’t make up its mind about what kind of rooming house it is, Relais Under The Tower’s name is pretty literal—you won’t find another hostel-like place closer to the monuments.
Just south of the tower. Dorms €20-25; doubles €45-50, with bath €65-100.
SIGHTS
All of Pisa’s grime and crass tourism instantly melt away when you walk among the glistening white monuments of Piazza Duomo. The writer Gabriele D’Annunzio called this medieval square the Piazza Dei Miracoli, or Piazza of Miracles, and the name is both apt and widely used. If you want to expand your visit beyond the big shiny buildings, there are plenty of churches into which you can wander or you could take a bus from P. Vittorio Emanuele to Marina di Pisa, the nearest beach.
LEANING TOWER
P. Duomo
TOWER
050 83 50 11 www.opapisa.it
Jaded travelers that we are, we expected Pisa’s famous tower to be something of a tourist trap, on par with a leaning Big Block of Cheese. We were very wrong. Turns out the postcards, placemats, and neckties simply cannot do justice to the ridiculous slant of this seriously tipsy structure. It really is awesome, shocking as that may be. And if you’re getting sick of the sense o’ wonder inspired by most great European monuments (we told you we were jaded), get stoked for the tower. Your first reaction will be less OMG and more LOL. LMAO, even. It really is hilariously tilted. Oh man, Tower, you crack us up.
Follow the abundant signs to “Tower.” Wheelchair-accessible only by arrangement, call ahead. Make reservations in the Museo del Duomo, online, or next to the tourist info office. €15. Open daily June-Sept 8am-11pm; Oct 9am-7pm; Nov-Dec 24 10am-5pm; Dec 25-Jan 6 9am-6pm; Jan 7-Feb 10am-5pm; Mar 9am-6pm; Apr-May 8am-8pm. Last entry 30min. before close. Visit lasts 30min. and is guided.
PIAZZA DEI MIRACOLI SIGHTS
P. Duomo
CHURCH, MUSEUM, CEMETERY
Outside of the famed leaning attraction, P. Duomo contains many other notable attractions in which you could spend an entire day. The impressive Duomo itself would not be at all out of place in Florence. Everything from the ceiling to the pews is stylish. The Battistero is the great round thing in front of the cathedral, and its acoustics are so spectacular that a choir singing inside can supposedly be heard from 2km away. The Camposanto (cemetery) remains impressively peaceful amongst all the tourists. It retains fragments of frescoes that were heavily damaged by Nazi shelling. When preservationists finally began reconstructing the frescoes in 1979, they discovered enormous preparatory drawings underneath. In response, Museo delle Sinopie was created so that visitors could see these sketches, with catwalks providing multiple vantage points from which to view the drawings. Finally, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo contains yet more information on the construction, reconstruction, and preservation of the cathedral and its surrounding buildings. If you ever happen to travel back in time to Pisa in 1064, you’ll be able to tell them exactly how they can keep their buildings from getting all tilty.
In P. Duomo, in the north of the city. Wheelchair-accessible only by arrangement; call ahead. All sights have joint admission: 1 monument €5, 2 monuments €6, all 5 €10. Handicapped persons and 1 guest free. Buy tickets at the biglietteria north of the tower or at the Museo delle Sinopie. Open daily Apr-Sept 8am-8pm; Oct 9am-7pm; Nov-Dec 24 10am-5pm; Dec 25-Jan 6 9am-6pm; Jan 7-Feb 10am-5pm; Mar 9am-6pm.
GIARDINO SCOTTO
Lungarno Leonardo Fibonacci
PARK
050 83 50 21
For a small park, Giardino Scotto sure brings the goods. Its main draws are the ruins and Roman walls, upon which you can go clambering around if you’d like. There’s also a permanent outdoor movie theater in the park where first- and second-run films are screened every night of the summer.
South of the river, east of the centro.. Open daily July-Aug 9am-8:30pm; Sept 9am-8pm; Oct 9am-6pm; Nov-Jan 9:30am-4:30pm; Feb-Mar 9am-6pm; Apr 9am-7pm; May-June 9am-8pm.
FOOD
This port city is blessed with lots of seafood, plus restaurants that double as bars offering lovely aperitivo buffets and late hours. Just south of the monuments on Via Santa Maria, you will find about a half dozen pizzerias.
ARGINI MARGINI
Lungarno Galilei
SEAFOOD
329 88 81 972 www.arginiemargini.com
The Arno smells far sweeter when you’re sipping wine on a dock along its sandy shore. In the summer months at the edge of the south shore, head to Argini Margini’s small floating dock for fresh seafood and live jazz and classical music.
Look over the edge of the river, and you’ll see it. Cov
er €1. Seafood priced at market rate, by the kg. Open in summer M-Th 6-11pm, F-Sa 6pm-midnight, Su 6-11pm.
LA BOTTEGA DEL GELATO
P. Garibaldi 11
GELATERIA
050 57 54 67 www.labottegadelgelato.it
Big scoops of good-by-all-but-Florentine-standards gelato, right on Pisa’s main bridge. Take your cone and stroll along the Arno.
On P. Garibaldi. Gelato from €1.50. Open daily in summer 11am-1am; in fall, winter, and spring 11am-10pm.