Empty Streets, Busy Streets, Clean Streets

Many times, streets in Siena and Florence remind me of De Chirico paintings of empty, desolate streets. No sidewalks or vegetation, doors firmly shut, windows shuttered, no human habitation.

But other streets are more open, full of life and energy, with waving flags of the Contada (with the Palio coming up in a couple of months, folks are starting to whip up local spirit), hanging laundry, people active together, a more positive open feeling.

And --at least in places where tourism is a prime engine of the economy-- the streets are clean. While walking one evening we saw a man walking his dog, and after the dog peed against the wall of a building, the man gave the wall a good slosh of water from a large soda bottle he was carrying. I thought that was a good civic-minded thing for him to do.