glorious italian cuisine

from sit down dinners to picnics in my room

sienna market at dusk

i stumbled upon this market at the end of my day trip to sienna (which i will get back to. i am bouncing around my trip here)

i had heard about open air markets all over italy and was very excited about getting to them.

this was exceptional considering i found it just as the sun was setting. there were some crafts and goods, but a large part of this market was cheese, olive oils and local foods. i found out the next day that the local oil had recently been pressed, hence all the oil here - in particular the dark green oil which means it is still very young and the sediment hadn't settled yet.

i didn't buy anything. i traveled light on cash in hand, due to problems with atm's. it was for the best.

after this i went to find my car- which i could not. i was completely lost, first in the town, then in a garage -on foot. a siennese resident, who spoke not a word of english (and i, no italian) walked me through a garage (where we found i was not parked) and then through the town of sienna to find my car. it was an absolutely beautiful act of human kindness & generosity. i drove back to the inn without getting lost.