14 May 2007, Monday, (Day 24) - Siena. Try to imagine it's close to 10:30 in the evening and you're coming to the end of a 40-kilometer walk. You're hungry, dirty, tired and want nothing more than a hot meal, a hotter shower and a mattress to lie down on.

You've passed four places for pizza by the slice, but haven't stopped for fear the nun at the religious house who had been expecting you at 9:30 is going to give up and go to bed. When you do arrive and Ginetta answers after the fifth ring your sheepish embarrassment vanishes immediately as she welcomes you and the other three pilgrims with open arms. While everybody washes up she prepares dinner and in little more than half an hour dire straights has become near perfection.

So it goes (and went) with Sister Ginetta, who takes in pilgrims of all (or no) faiths and treats them with the same kindness you'd show to your family and friends. It came as no surprise to find out that Ginetta last year received an award for being an outstanding Senese (though she hails from Mantova in Lombardy) and that she is loved by everybody we came across.

Our long stage yesterday allowed the time for a full-day in Siena, my first day not on the trails since leaving the Gran San Bernard Pass on April 21. David Rossi with Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the oldest bank in the world, set us up with a private tour on short notice of Santa Maria della Scala. Our tour guide, Barbara Guerrini, showed us all the ins and outs of an incredible building seeped in history connected to pilgrims and the Via Francigena.

In Santa Maria della Scala, which is directly in front of the cathedral, a long hallway called the Pellegrinaio has a series of frescos recounting how pilgrims have been received and looked after here beginning in the 11th Century. The building was first built specifically for pilgrims and then became a hospital that among other things treated pilgrims. Parts of the building were still used as a hospital as recently as six years ago.

Next up was a private visit of the town hall - also organized by David from Monte Paschi - where Donatella Cinelli Colombini, the Siena councilwoman in charge of tourism, took us around. After seeing the mayor's frescoed office I decided that beginning now that is a job I will aspire to. That said, most of the inside of the building is frescoed so I think key for me will just be getting any job in city hall (if somebody in the city administration is reading this, please consider it a thinly veiled job solicitation...a resume can follow).

Siena is investing time and resources as part of a concerted effort to develop the Via Francigena in its region, and well it should since it has all the requisites (beauty, documented history connected to the pilgrimage dating back ten centuries, international appeal and Tuscany on the other side of the city gates) to become the signature city on the Italian portion of the route to Rome.

Lunch was tasty sandwiches (Carl and me Tuscan raw ham and fresh peccorino, Valentina Finocchiona with the same cheese, Claire cheese and mushrooms) from a shop near Piazza del Campo, but I'm not going to say where because the guy behind the counter offered us some wine in plastic cups and then charged us for it. I hate when places do that and I'm never going back to that guy.

It would take much more than a clever and slightly unscrupulous sandwich maker to put a black spot on this perfect day.

For those not schooled in the world of Italian deli meats: Tuscan raw ham is drier and less sweet than its cousin from Parma while finocchiona is a salame made with fenel.

Valentina returned to Milan at five leaving Carl, Claire and me to search for dinner, which we found (thanks to a call to a friend who studied in Siena a decade ago) in a great little osteria where I had Pici alla boscaiola. Pici = local pasta that's like spaghetti only thicker and is similar to Rome's buccatini. Boscaiola = with mushrooms and sausage. Precise Carl would have liked quicker service, not-so-precise me would have sat all evening at the tables set up on the steep incline in front of the osteria, but we had to get back before Ginetta went to bed.

I could close this post with thousands of words that wax poetic about the beauty of Piazza del Campo. I could, but I won't. All I'll say is that it's on my list of the top three piazzas in Italy (and I've seen a lot of piazzas in my wanderings).

Tip for the day: see Siena well, but especially make sure you take the time to see at least the Pellegrinaio in Santa Maria della Scala. Tip number 2: dinner at Osteria la Chiacchera, close to Piazza del Campo yet reasonably priced and has lots of local fare including Pici.

Trip details: Siena all day.

State of the route: Siena all day.

Weather report: hot.

Medical report: all good.