We arrived about 9:00 in Pisa, and beat a great majority of the tourists. As soon as we got off the bus, we were swarmed by vendors hawking sun glasses, hats, umbrellas and everything else that could be made to lean. We walked about 15 minutes to the church and got out first glipse of the Leaning Tower of Pisa as we entered the church courtyard. It was a nice sunny day, and we made sure we took the obligatory "push the tower back up" photos. It was fun to do and it is fun to watch everyone else posing with their hands up in the air.
You can get a feeling for how unstable the soil is in the area of the church as part of the church building itself settled during construction and adjustments were made to try to even everything out. The tower is the same was and from some angles almost looks banana shaped as it was adjusted during the build. A few years back, a major project was undertaken to stabilize the tower and the ground around it so that it could remain in its leaning position for many more years. In the past, there were cables and counterweights all around the tower to stabilize it. It looks so much better now,a nd you can even climb to the top now, although we didn't due to time constraints.
On the front of the cathedral, on the upper right side, is one brown pillar, in great contrast to all the white pillars. It was used to repair a damaged pillar. It is very curious whey they couldn't find another white stone to make the pillar, considering all the marble came from the mountains nearby. Legend has it that if you look at a picture of this everyday, your spouse will remain faithful to you. 
From Pisa, we headed into the country for lunch at another small winery. This one was called Tenuta Tortiano. Our hostess gave us a nice history of the wine area and told us about their other locations and wine buying options. The lunch was very good.
Leaving the winery, we headed south to San Gimignano. San Gimignano is a walled medieval hill town, known for its towers. Fourteen of the towers are still standing. In so many towns the towers have been destroyed in wars.
Once inside the walls, it is filled with stores, shops and museums (including the Medieval Criminal and Torture Museum, although we didn't go in that one). There were plenty of interesing soveniers, but we opted for gelato. The walls of Gelateria Dondoli were lined with photos of famous people who have stopped in for a treat, but alas, our photos won't be making it up their wall, but the gelato was very good.
The views from the top of the fortress walls of the Tuscan countryside were magnificent, and would give a real advantage to seeing oncoming troops from any direction.
We left San Gimignano for the city of Sienna. It is most famous for the horse race in the central plaza. The outer ring is filled with dirt and 40,00 people crowd into the infield area to watch the race
We also toured the church in Sienna, which is made from black and white marble. The stripped theme is also continued inside, and includes beautiful mosaics and paintings. It is amazing to think of all the time required to build and decorate all these beautiful Italian churches.
At one time, the church was looking to expand, and what had been the main central location was going to be one of the new wings. The work was started, but never fully completed, and partial wall is still standing, but it is open to the sky.We headed back to Florence after a very interesting day touring central Italy. The tours are an easy way to learn about the places you visit without having to worry about how to get there, getting tickets, or parking (if driving). The guides are amazing as they all spoke at least 4 languages, and kept everyone informed about the trip and what to look for.
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