The Francigena Road, to be more precise, is a set of roads with many alternatives and was recovered by travellers that like history and nature; in 1994 was designated European Cultural Route by the Council of Europe.

If you are planning an holiday in Siena, our advice is to take advantage of the “historical walks” in Monteriggioni, that is one of the stage of Francigena Road, scheduled on 9th and 30th June. You can enjoy the original mood of that era dressing Medieval costumes and meeting along the itinerary soldiers, noble men, farmers, monks and pilgrims, each one with a story to tell, furthermore you can admire the ancient country houses, the small villages and the abbeys that populate this area.

The route begins from the castle of Strove and arrives to Monteriggioni after 7,5 km and has a length of 3 hours and a half: a charming adventure surrounded by the amazing Senese landscapes. Each event requires reservation and a minimum of 50 adults, in addition you can ask to organizers to plan guided tours fixing the date, the route and the number of characters.

In June there will be another intersting event in Monteriggioni: the first edition of Viandanza Festival, dedicated to “slow travel”. The event will be from 15th to 19th June, and the calendar is full of famous guests like the Belgian wayfarer Sébastien de Fooz, that reaches Jerusalem by walk from Flanders, and Erri De Luca, a novelist that is also an expert mountaineer and walker.

In other words it’s the most ancient way of travel that now acquires new shapes and can give exclusive feelings to travellers. To know more about all these events there is the official website of Monteriggioni: www.monteriggioniturismo.it

The first tour will be on Saturday 12th May (the event will be weekly) at 10:30 am at Santa Maria della Scala, which undergorund hosts the water system that provided the hospital, that now became a museum. The tour is organized by the association La Diana, that plan also others interesting visits to the “bottini di Siena” and the Water Museum, a series of routes dedicated to who want to discover this clever system that allowed to take advantage from the natural sources.

See venues usually not open to public and “invisible” because located underground is a great chance; it’s a unique place because these galleries are dug in the rock and have a lenght of 25 km, built during the XIII century to use the water-bearing stratum of Siena.

About legends, the workers that built the “bottini” (the name derives from “botte”, barrel) often had visions: some pixies (called “omiccioli” and “fuggisoli”) occasionally appeared in the dark of underground like a sudden lightning.

The association La Diana offers the guided tour to the Water Museum, that requires reservation, for groups of 15 people at a time; the Museum consists of three floors and was designed by the prestigious Studio Azzurro in Milan and Mizar in Rome, situated above the Fonti della Pescaia.

Don’t miss the opportunity to discover one of the most mysterious and enchanting sides of Siena, the water routes are waiting for you! The reservation is always required and you can call the phone number 0577/534511 before the previous Thursday. For all the details visit the official website of the association: www.ladianasiena.it

A successful initiative returns, is Train Nature, that leaves from Siena at 8.55 am on 25th April and arrives in Castiglione d’Orcia, where takes place the Spring Festival; the travel is on board a steam train full of entertainment and emotions, and includes the stages Monte Antico, the Val d’Orcia park, the Brunello di Montalcino (one of the best wines in Tuscany), the Crete Senesi and Torrenieri.

Once you arrive in Castiglione d’Orcia (after a brief trip by pullman) you can visit the Rocca d’Orcia, an ancient Etruscan town features a magic and quiet mood. If you like to take pictures, long walks, small markets of handicraft, to taste olive oils and high quality wines, this itinerary is a must. Reservation is required, for all the information you can visit the website www.terresiena.it also for the next events of Train Nature.

Siena offers others meetings for who remains in the center: two sport events, the bike ride “Resistere, pedalare, resistere” and the “Meeting della Liberazione”, then a guided tour to the Stanze della Memoria, in Via Malavolti, where to discover giant posters about the Senese history during the XX century. On 4:15 pm there will be the city parade, with “Città del palio” band and a free live concert at Teatro dei Rozzi by Bobo Rondelli, a poetic and creative songwriter.

See these pictures give a very intense emotion: there are 54 photos from the Japanese magazine Iwate Nippo, an evidence of that happened on 11th March and after, when people try to rebuild a normal life. The promoters said that isn’t easy to set up this exhibition because pictures imply an ethic question and visitors have to think about photos so heavy.

At the same venue there are the sculptures Twelve months of the year by Hanako Kumazawa, twelve earthenware heads coming from the Dominique Papi Cipriani collection. Furthermore, the artwork by Kohei Ota that will paint on paper on India ink will be the last stage of this trip through the Land of the Rising Sun. There will be others initiatives during April and May, our advice is to visit the website paesaggidiculturagiapponese.wordpress.com to know more about the event.

Our suggestion for Easter and Easter Monday (on 8th and 9th April) is to visit Monteriggioni, renowned for its XIII century castle and because is located along the Via Francigena, route that leads to three religious destinations: Santiago de Compostela, Rome and Jerusalem. Here rises a touristic park dedicated to this itinerary, with info panels about local flora and fauna and about legends that are known by centuries. Every street of the park is entitled to a poet or a writer that wrote about Siena.

In Monteriggioni the special event is scheduled for 9th April, the New Season Day, from 10:00 am until evening you can join many events. There will be the drysalters market, useful to know the aromatic herbs, a Medieval parade at 12:00 am with the show of the local “tamburini” (drummers), the Spell Shop dedicated to the children; the gathering of the historical group of Monteriggioni that will involve the people with games and at the end a parade, from 5:00 pm ahead.

The Festival, organized by the municipality and by Agresto association with the contribute by Monte dei Paschi di Siena, is a yearly event that is related to an ancient tradition and allows to tourists to discover this venue, a Medieval town that was a set for commercials and movies (among these also Gladiator by Ridley Scott).

Take advantage of the next weekend for an holiday into history and adventure. www.monteriggioniturismo.it

The first meeting with exclusive events is next saturday, 24th March, to celebrate the 16th edition of Terra di Siena Film Festival that there will be on September, a festival dedicated to who likes cinema an want to join prestigious events with very special guests.

The calendar isn’t complete yet, but on Saturday Manuel De Sica, the co-director of Festival with Maria Pia Corbelli, will introduce the event “Cinema & Musica- Dentro e fuori lo schermo” at 6:30 pm at Palazzo Ravizza hall, venue that you can discover visiting the official site of our hotel. The guests will be the actor Leo Gullotta and the pianist Michelangelo Carbonara, that will play the repertoire of Nino Rota and Queen, a match between moving songs and compelling stories that is the uniqueness of Terra di Siena Film Festival.

The artistic committee has also some representatives abroad, as Eleonora Granata Jenkinson and Silvia Bizio, from Los Angeles, and another feature is the interest for social issues, in fact one of the partners is Nirodha, association that takes care of children with social problems in Ucraina.

The other guests on 24th March will be the actors of the movie “Buona giornata”, by Carlo Vanzina, that will be out on 30th March, a chance to talk about Italian cinema and discover the exclusives of the next edition of festival. The official website is here: www.terradisienafilmfestival.it

The next event is on wednesday 14th March at “Fori Porta”, restaurant close to Porta Romana, where works the chef Massimiliano Borsi, that will host Marco Bezzi from San Marco di Ponte di Legno (Brescia); thei will prepare a 4 hands menu with some of the Tuscan specialties and the Lombard typical dishes.

During a stay in Siena our advice is to join a dinner of Girogustando to give yourselves a funny and high quality experience, because this region loves its traditions and refined flavors, that are essential as much as the artworks and the breathtaking landscapes of its hills.

The dinners will take place between March and November (with a pause on July and August) every wednesday and thursday of the second and third week of the month. The 2012 edition has a new feature: all menus are traceable, in other words there is the name of farmers, producers and breeders and all the useful information about dishes.

Furthermore the selected wines will be served by sommeliers and you can admire the artworks by Senese artists hosted by the restaurants, that will become art gallieries for one night. These events are also a chance to entertain yourselves through the Giroquiz, a game that will involve all commensals. To know all the next meetings, visit the official site and, of course, don’t forget to book as soon as possible! www.girogustando.tv

The stands will be 84 and the evnts include workshops, animation team for children and adults, gourmet itineraries, to discover all the stages of the art of making chocolate.

The organizers, Chocomoments, created this traveling festival that is hosted by the most important Italian squares and are proud to be in Siena, where the festival is called CiocoSi and brings happiness inside the historical walls of the city.

The calendar is full, on Friday it will starts the Chocolate Farm, where the master chocolatier Giancarlo Maestrone will be the excellence guide to the world of cacao; the tastings are the best chance to appreciate all that Siena can offers, as the matches with bread, coffee or grappa. Besides, there will be an area for kids, Babychoco, where the animation staff will involve children with workshops, to learn to made chocolate.

The Guide Center, an important institution, will provide the route DolceSiena, an itinerary dedicated to the local sweet production with many historical oddities. The tour will start from Piazza del Campo at 11:00 am and 3:00 pm, to book you can call the phone number 0577.43273.

It seems a very flavored weekend, discovering one of the favorite delicacies by gourmets. For other information, please visit the website www.chocomoments.it

To know better the origins of this delicacy and have a preview of products that will be sold in 2012, in San Gimignano there will be a wine tasting on 19th and 20th February, by 36 top wine producers of this area, a unique chance to appreciate the latest grape harvest and discover the evolution of this white wine. The Vernaccia is the ideal wine to go with dishes as fish, vegetables and white meat, thanks to its perfume and savory tones.

The event will take place at Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea De Grada, in Via Folgore 11, from 3:00 to 7:00 pm on Sunday and from 3:30 to 6:00 pm on Monday, and will are available also reserve wines and, at the same time the convention White wine and its Lands, during which you can taste also a foreign wine, the Chenin Blanc of Loira, in comparison with the typical Tuscan wine.

The San Gimignano is rich of venues that are a must for travellers, ideal for an excursion in province of Siena, above all for who likes the Medieval towns that are unaltered over time. The so-called Middle Age Manhattan is famous for its towers (today are 16), the highest is Torre del Podestà, or Torre Grossa (54 mt),next to Palazzo Comunale in Piazza del Duomo.

Here there is the Civic Museum, where to see many artworks from XIII to XVI century, but the beauty of the town is in its alleys, in fact UNESCO listed the historical center of the town as World Heritage Site. An holiday in Tuscany mustn’t exclude the enogastronomical itineraries in winter, and in San Gimignano we suggest also the extravirgin olive oil and the saffron, local excellences for great recipes. This is the official website of Consorzio della Denominazione San Gimignano www.vernaccia.it

The cooperative Giocolenuvole manages all the festival and the main venue will be Piazza del Campo, in the heart of Siena; saturday 11th begins at 4:30 pm and 6:00 pm with the animated visit of Teatro dei Rinnovati, along with the Italian masks and some funny gags.

At the end there will be tastings of typical Carnival products, a way to discover the Tuscan specialties of this period; to follow, on Fat Thursday, 16th February, a reading at Sala del Consiglio Comunale a Palazzo Pubblico, La valigia di Salgari, a journey into the novels of the great storyteller who never traveled but knew how to recall flamboyant moods and exciting adventures. The event will take place at 5:30 pm and is at free entrance but reservation is required, as for saturday, and you can call the phone number 0577 – 292615/14 from monday to friday, 9:30 am -12:30 am.

The main attraction is a musical parade during Fat Tuesday, 21st February, from 3:00 pm, when Large Street Band and African precussionists will perform through the streets, to introduce Piazza del Campo changed in a Salgari’s book: chinese dragons, Capitan Tempesta and Sahara riders, Sandokan, the Black Corsair and Jolanda, the gold diggers from alaska, indians and cowboys, these are some of the characters that recall up the tales of the Veronese writer.

In every corner of the square there will be different sets, the Cortile del Podestà will become Ca’ Salgari, the room where the writer created his works, and here some shows will tell his life. In front of Cortile you will find the Book Clinic, a special “hospital” where to repair your own old books that are ruined.

A great hot-air balloon in the middle of the square will be ready to fly with who will want to live this great emotion: what would be the Carnival without games and adventures? For all the information you can contact the Servizio Teatri e Grandi Eventi, phone number 0577 292225 or write an email to spettacoli@comune.siena.it.