Siena … Where to Start …

Yup, me and my tongue and Marcie, Sophie, Alex and the back of Justyne's head

So I am sitting in my hostel in Florence writing the post on fountains thinking about how I will explore the city, when a new roomie arrives – Sophie, from Australia.  So Sophie and I start chatting, she is a professional trick rider, and she asks if I am going to the horse race in Siena, which is about an hour away.  I told her that the other Australian girl in the room had gone to that, and I had not heard of it before, so I had not thought about it.

The grand medieval buildings in Siena

Siena is this amazing medieval city of a grand scale.  The old city does not allow cars in there for the most part and the buildings are tall and the streets narrow.  I had never heard of the place so was game to go.  So Sophie and I raced for the bus and made it on just in time.  We sat down and found ourselve sitting with some other Aussie’s and a guy from the Netherlands.  It was actually a great bus ride as the 5 of us got to know each other.  A spontaneous group formed and we all spent the day together watching the race.

The narrow streets filled with people for the Palio Race.

The first Palio race started in 1656.   The Palio di Siena (known locally simply as Il Palio) is a horse race held twice each year on July 2 and August 16, in which ten horses and riders, bareback and dressed in the appropriate colours, represent ten of the seventeen city wards. The Palio held on July 2 is named Palio di Provenzano, in honour of the Madonna of Provenzano, who has a church in Siena. The Palio held on August 16 is named Palio dell’Assunta, in honour of the Assumption of Mary.

We arrive at the Piazza del Campo - it is only 2 pm.

The race itself, circles the Piazza del Campo three times, on which a thick layer of dirt has been laid, and usually lasts no more than 90 seconds. It is not uncommon for a few of the jockeys to be thrown off their horses while making the treacherous turns in the piazza, and indeed it is not unusual to see unmounted horses finishing the race without their jockeys.  This I can speak for a fact is true.

Early on and the Piazza is still fairly empty

So given that we got there at 2 pm, the Piazza was stil fairly empty.  There was some confusion as to when the actual race would occur but it seemed to be that the celebrations would start around 3;30 pm and the actual race would be at 7:30 pm.  Given that the bulk of the people gather in the middle, and the horses race around the crowd, it you wanted a good position, you ideally needed to get into the Piazza early on.  There were stands on the outside that people paid big bucks for and then all the windows in the buildings surrounding, soon filled up with people as well.

Our spot, soon to be surrounded by the rams, as we enjoyed a beer and bought cheap ponchos to protect us from the rain.

After a brief tour around the old city, which was just packed with people, we made our way back to the square and found a spot on the high point of the middle area that was fenced off.  Dark clouds loomed and rain started which none of us were prepared for, but luckily some fine entrepreneur was selling these cheap rain jackets, which we all invested in.  Then, of course, it stopped raining…figures.

The beautiful cathedral in the Piazza Duomo

So around 3:30pm, we find ourselves sitting in a still relatively empty Piazza that continues to fill up slowly.  To bide our time we decide to drink a beer.  We found out at about 4:30 pm that they shut the gates and you could not leave the centre without getting locked out.  Luckily we all only had one beer, albeit a big one, because no toilets were to be found in the Piazza.  This is just cruel really.

The crowds start moving in, until by about 6ish, it is looking like ...

... this.

Anyway, a little more about the race. The devout residents of each contrada, known as contradaioli, invoke the sacred aid of their patron saint for their horse and jockey. The worldly improve their odds with arguably dubious methods, chiefly bribery and doping. The sensible simply keep a close watch on their stable and their rider.  The horses are of mixed breed; no purebred horses are allowed.

At around 5 pm the parade started and this became a drawn out almost 3 hour event while each contrada came through with flag throwers, a band, men in tights (see picture following) and other pomp and pageantry reflective of medieval times.

Men in Tights. Marcie wanted a picture with them. The one on the right - well take a look for yourself.

As this was going on more and more people were being allowed to flood into the centre.  Our spot became a spot for the ram contrada.  They wore pink coloured scarfs and pushed their way squeezing us in the process.  It didn’t matter that we had been waiting their for 3 hours, this was going to be where they stood.  What could we do.  Just stand strong in your position.

Our section avidly wave their scarfs during part of the Parade when the winning banner passes by

There is a seriousness that the locals all regard this race that I don’t quite understand.  The actual race itself was only about 90 seconds.  The Piazza must have held at least 20,000 people.  Horse jockeys fell off their horses in pretty brutal falls and horses finished without riders.  Finally of course, only one could win and it was our rams.  Women were crying, men were  crying, couples were consoling each other.  I was amazed at how seriously people took their loss.  The winning group of course was ecstatic.  Everyone started flooding out of the Piazza towards the Piazza Duomo singing, carrying the jockey and yelling in excitement, while other Italians, even young kids, wailed at their losses.  It was quite the drama.

Riders with animals on their helmuts

The Medieval Brass

Carribinieri race around the track - it was exhilirating.

You can barely see them but the horses are at the starting line

The winning jockey is carried through the streets

We then had the next adventure of finding our way out of the city back to the bus.  Long story short, our group got split up and we missed the last bus and ended up taking a very hot and packed train back to Florence.  All in all it was quite the adventure and a very long day.

Oh my god, there are a lot of people in here.