Hi all! I come bearing not one, but two days worth of stories, lessons, and newsworthy events.

Yesterday, we enjoyed time under the tuscan sun in Siena and San Gimignano; two beautiful smaller towns about 90 minutes outside of Florence. We started in Siena, the larger of the two towns, and took a short tour with our guide, Federica. She brought us to the San Dominicano church, which was a new style than the typical churches we’ve seen in the past few weeks. In fact, a lot of the architecture here boasts a more gothic feel. We then walked through some of the 17 districts of Siena, each of them having their own main church and even their own flag. We also got to see the town square in which they hold their famous horse race twice every summer. She explained that through a lottery system, 10 horses are chosen randomly for 10 districts each race. It is a huge celebration that involves a feast and many other celebrations before and after the races. In fact, Federica’s district of Lupa, the She-Wolf, was chosen the same horse and to be entered in both races this past summer, and won both times. Statistically speaking, this is very rare- and she was proof that it was a very exciting feat. After our tour, we roamed the streets of Siena, which is situated on three hills. Siena has an underground tunnel system in which ancient merchants used to use to get around easier, since bringing carts up the hills was a difficult task. Another wonderful engineering idea from long, long ago!

After Siena, we hopped back on the coach to San Gimignano-which is undoubtedly the cutest small town I have ever seen. Once an old trading post, the town’s postcard image is of it’s towers. The families of the town used to build towers as a sign of power or wealth, and eventually, there was a rule put in place that they were to stop building towers. So now, there are 14 towers left- one of which we climbed- the Torre Grossa. While it was much shorter than Brunelleschi’s dome or the bell tower, it provided unbelievable views of the countryside that Tuscany is so well known for. Here are some shots I took while 54 meters up:

And for the final event on Sunday, a wine tasting! We became chemists for the night as we visited Tenuta Torciano Winery. Luigi, the owner, gave us a little run down of the process behind growing grapes for the wine, and olives for the (you guessed it) olive oil. We learned that the pH in the soil here is low, which means there is no fat in the olive oil, and no acidity in the wine-yay! They also brew their wine to eliminate sulfates, which alleviates the chemicals that produce hangovers. After our quick chemistry lesson, we were put to work! (It was pretty tough stuff, let me tell ya!) We sampled different types of wines, as Luigi and his son demonstrated how to swish, sniff and sip the wine in order to get the full effect of the grape. Each grape has many different qualities that make it unique- and we learned that different grapes even produce different smells when swished! Definitely a glass-half full kind of day!

Monday morning came quick, and we found ourselves back on the coach on our way to the Lamborghini and Ducati factories. We definitely had our engineering hats on today! We were guided through the Lamborghini factory, where they were producing their Aventador and Huracan models. With V10 and V12 engines, and horsepower up in the 600’s, these cars are nothing short of fantastic. We were not allowed to take photos in the factories as to protect the worker’s privacy, so you’re going to have to take my word on the attention to detail and intricacy of the production line- only about 5-6 Aventadors are produced each day, and around 11 Huracans. After the tour of the factory and spending a little bit of time looking (gawking) in the museum, a few of us chose to test drive a Huracan- definitely something to cross off your bucket list!

We finished off our day at the Ducati factory. These high end sport bikes are as incredible as you’d imagine! We were brought along the assembly line for several model types- the organization and operations of these factories was very well thought out and swiftly executed! We got to enjoy seeing the engine start for the first time, a simulated road test, a cO2 emissions test, among many other important aspects of automotive production. Again, no pictures… it was so cool- I promise!

That’s all for today! Just a few more days before we find ourselves back home! Until then, Ciao!