One of the great things about living in Italy is being able to enjoy the vacation (or 'holiday' as they say here) time in August. On Friday (August 15th - which is actually an Italian holiday), I started my 3 week vacation. :-) The way the city is, it almost invites and encourages you to go, take off & enjoy yourself...since half the businesses, restaurants, shops etc. are closed for at least a couple weeks during the month. I believe there are more tourists here in Rome than Italian for sure!
For me, these 3 weeks will be filled with adventures with friends who will be visiting. Two friends from Houston (work with me at PwC Houston) arrived on August 15th and will be here until this Thursday morning. Then I have another friend arriving on Friday that will be here for 2 weeks. Since I will have many things going on during this time, so I figured I would try to blog about my adventures thus far before I forget!
When my friends arrived on the 15th, we took a 3 hour bus ride to Siena, Italy which is located in the Tuscany region north of Rome. The main reason I wanted to go to Siena during this time is because of an event held every July 2 and August 16th since at least August 16, 1310 called the Palio. I went to Siena about 4 years ago when I was doing an organized tour with my mom, dad & sister and found the place interesting & thought the Palio sounded like something I really wanted to experience. So when I moved to Italy and my friend & I were making my 'must do's when I'm in Italy' list, I put The Palio on the list.
To understand the Palio, first I must explain a little bit about the city. Siena is divided up into 17 Contradas (kind of like communities). The 17 Contradas are:
Aquila (Eagle), Bruco (Caterpillar), Chiocciola (Snail), Civetta (Owl), Drago (Dragon), Giraffa (Giraffe), Istrice (Porcupine), Leocorno (Unicorn), Lupa (She-wolf)
Nicchio (Shell), Oca (Goose), Onda (Wave), Pantera (Panther), Selva (Forest), Tartuca (Tortoise), Torre (Tower), & Valdimontone (Ram).
Each Contrada have their own colors, own flag, own chant, own bulletin board for events, own headquarters, own museum, etc. Every Contrada is ruled by its own governing body which is elected every 2 years. The life of the Sienese is closely linked to the Contrada they live in and much of their free time is even spent in organized functions of the Contrada. Winning the Palio is thought to bring good luck to the Contrada and so those that win the race on August 16th are thought very lucky because they will have good luck for almost a whole year.
It is easy to tell which Contrada you’re in because they proudly hang out their flags (those of you in Texas think of it like seeing the big UT or A&M flags proudly hanging outside people's houses to let them know Alumni live there! It's the closest thing I can think of!) For the Sienese - Palio is part of their life & not just a race or event. Talk about Palio for them goes on all year.
Only 10 Contradas participate in each Palio - the Contradas that do not participate in the previous Palio are then automatically included in the next & the remaining are chosen by lot about a month before the race. The jockeys are professionals and are typically not from Siena. The horses are chosen only days before (29th July & 13th August) & then there are 3 days of trials (1 trial in morning & 1 in the afternoon) for the horse and jockey to get familiar with the race track. The track is actually the main Piazza (Piazza del Campo), which is kind of a sea shell shaped piazza that has an incline to it and is transformed into a track for the race. In addition, the jockeys ride bareback, which means many times the jockeys fall off the horse.
Prior to the Palio there are many parades in the streets, each Contrada hosts a big dinner the night before etc. We caught several processions with flags, drummers, guys all dressed up in medieval type costumes etc. as we were just walking through the street on Saturday morning.
The race was to start at 7pm & we were told to go early to get a good spot. From pictures etc. I knew that there would be a lot a people & that it would be a big crowd...but I don't mind crowds and I figured I'd been in crowds like that before...but THIS was different!! When we got there around 2:30pm it was fine...we had room to sit and we were about 3 people away from the fence, so we figured we were good. What we didn't realize was that we ended up sitting by the 1 entrance/exist that was open from 3:30 until the race started, so hundreds and hundreds of people were coming in and of course didn't want to go to the center where they couldn't see, so they kept pushing us to try to get us to move. When I say 'us' I mean the crowd around me as we were about 6 or more people from where the crowds were coming in. From 5pm until after the race I don't think there was a minute where I did not have at least 1 limb being touched by at least one other person. Sometimes as the crowds came in there was no way to not be shoved and the whole crowd moved forward. Kids in the crowd around us were crying & some people were getting to hot and had to go out climbing over the barricade to do so. My friends decided they did not want to deal with it and so they left a little over an hour before the race started. I figured I came to the Palio...it's been on my 'must do list'...I came all the way to experience it...I can just stay (although at times I was really questioning if that was a stupid decision!).
About an hour and a half before the face starts, they have various processions that come into the Piazza and around the track including a procession for each Contrada in the race that includes their flag bearers, drummers, etc. all dressed up in the traditional outfits.
When it was time for the race to begin, I ended up being on the opposite side of the start so I couldn't see much. There are typically tons of false starts because one horse will jump the line or get out etc., so it's actually hard to tell when the real race begins. The race happens so fast, it was over before I knew it! I saw a couple horses fly by and then I heard the shots go off to announce a winner and hear a lot of cheering! I had to ask around to see who won...Bruco I was told...Bruco I asked...yes you know the thing that turns into a butterfly...oh the Caterpillars!
Afterwards I left quickly (so I didn't get trampled) and went to go find my friends. Along the way I saw one of the losing Contradas walking back home with expressions as if someone just died...young, old, men, women many were in tears. Soon after they went through, the Caterpillar Contrada come through the streets waving their flags, singing their chant & the drummers going, carrying the winning jockey on their shoulders above the crowd in the streets and carrying the prized Palio banner. It definitely was a sight. Later that night, as tradition, the winning Contrada went to the Duomo (main Cathedral) to do prayers....and of course there is a big feast for the whole Contrada afterwards.
I am glad I had the chance to go and experience being at the race and being in Siena during the race to experience all the excitement and emotion....but I think next time I'll just watch it on TV or the internet! For me it's probably a once in a lifetime experience.
I actually had to go on to see the race...Here's a video of the race if you want to
see it: http://www.paliodisiena.unisi.it/live.asp
Here are some of the pictures I took of Siena and the Palio:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=146114&l=8cbae&id=800405227
http://www.new.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3854882&l=2b7f3&id=800405227
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