While he sipped prosecco...

It was not an early start. But by one o'clock we were on our way. We made a stop at Greve in Chianti for a beer and a quick scoot around the shops. And one of those miraculous I-wish-I'd ordered-what-you-had'outdoor restaurant moments. So we exchanged. That's what mates are for.

Then we twisted and turned through vineyards and oakwoods, the sun blazing, the sky washed clean, rocking and rolling towards Siena. We even lucked out with the parking. M directing me into a petite 'spazio al Italiano'.

We then took in the Siena football ground, sunk in a pit on the edge of the old town, the beautiful Chapel of Santa Caterina (extra), before being spat out along with the others from the tall dark streets into the blaze of light of the Campo (extra).

We sat at the Cafe del Palio. Tea for me and prosecco for him. And we just took it all in.

The bell tower and sloping square giving a sense of vertigo. You'd half expect to find old Giorgio Di Chirico sitting at the cafe with a crooked easel in front of him.

The students who had just received their degrees came on to the stage of the Campo, wearing laurel wreaths. (I'd never realised that the Italian for having a degree - laureato - literally means to wear the laurel).

One guy was well oiled in striking red boa and limishly green tights. Each with their band of followers leading chants. Part of the ritual seemed to give a little prosecco rub to some of the girls sitting on the huge sloping brick floor of the Campo.

I sat and took photos and sipped tea, being the driver.

We sauntered around the edges after M had gone off on a flier to a distant but scoped-out shop for wine. And then we happened on a new Conad ) minimarket built into the Campo where there was 'a very special offer' for relatively vintage Chiantis.

Anyone with a passing familiarity with the famous Saint-Céré Basque Cheese Incident - thankfully not many and before my Blipping days had begun - can imagine how much wine we came out with. But it all turned out to be quite delicious and we later confirmed it was indeed 'un affare eccezionale', as they say in these parts.

A slice of pizza in M and T's favourite stop and we were on our way back along the Via Chiantigiana to sample the wares of the day after we'd arrived back at the Pelegaccio well beyond nightfall.

An exceptional day. Thank you mate.

The cover photo is part of the antestructure of the Siena Campanile shot from a long way off. The extras are the altar at the remarkable Chapel of Santa Caterina, two students with their laurels greeting each other in the Campo and an 'unifinshed' compilation of the Campo itself. I'll go back soon and take the missing parts.