The Palio is the biggest event of the year for Siena. It is a horse race that takes place in the
center of town, in the Campo, in July.
It is a huge event and the whole town in involved as it is a competition
between the seven neighborhoods in town. The young boys compete for the honor to bang
the drums for the crowd, there are flag throwers that parade in front of the
town and then throw their flags high in the air and catch them seconds before
they hit the ground. There are parties
and parades in every neighborhood before the race as horse and jockeys are prayed
over and wages are set. Days before the
race, they close down access to the main square (Il Campo) and bring in dirt to
pack the cobblestone streets, set hale bales all around it to help cushion the
jockeys if they fall off the horse, and bleachers are brought in for the
50,000+ spectators that will pack the square.
The day of the race, there are Masses said for both the horse and rider
and both are blessed by their local clergy.
The horse is the real star of the day, if it happens to poop during the
blessing this is considered a very good sign.
Jockeys ride bareback and if they fall off, it doesn’t matter, the horse
can win with or without a rider. There
is no big money prize for winning; the prize is the bragging rights for the neighborhood.
I spend a lot of time sitting in Il Campo, it is a people
watchers delight as it is the center of social activity. Locals, and tourist following suit, lie on
the ground and sun themselves as if they are at the beach. But there is no beach, just cobblestone.
There is a small fountain in the square and
it has public spickets that can be used to re-fill a water bottle (for free) or
used to wash off your feet or hands. It
is like this all over Italy. The public
fountains are for all to use and dispense good, clean, cold water. Which is great for a tourist like me because
of this walking hills and steps takes its toll as the day goes on.
On one of my tourist site seeing days, I visit the Catherdral. It is immense and flash photos are not
allowed inside. I cannot figure out how to turn off my flash on my camera so I
have no inside pictures to share – but here are some from the outside.
I also decided to do the un-thinkable; to climb the top of
the Duomos tower to see the view. As I
stand in line waiting to enter the small spiral staircase, I wonder what will
happen if my knees protest and they refuse to do it. It’s a one-way staircase with over 200 steps,
so I tell the attendant my concern and he has me go in last and walks a few
steps behind me just in case. He did
this on his own, as soon as I was at the top and he was assured that I was ok;
he turned around and ran back down the steps so he could man his post. Holy
cow, WHAT a climb! It was completely worth the challenge!
After I made my way back down the tower, which was easier, I
found a spot to sit in the sun and let my knees recoup. A few minutes later, a street musician – a
violinist – decided to perform right in my corner.
He played a great fiddle….
He is from the Czech Republic and when he found out I am from Chicago,
he said that is the 2nd biggest city in the Czech Republic. He said this is a home town joke as there are
more Czech citizens in Chicago than in most of their cities. He said that President Obama knows this
because his President was in Chicago recently and when Obama met him and shook
his hand he said “welcome home.” This
made all the papers in the Czech Republic.
We had a good laugh over that and then he played a song just for me –
Sweet Home Chicago. I never thought
that could be done on a violin, but he proved me wrong.
As many of you know, I spent my birthday in Siena. Thank you very much for all the birthday
wishes on Facebook, in emails and on the blog.
It really helped to make my day extra great being so far away from home… I spent the day walking the streets, as is my
thing now, and stumbled upon Siena’s weekly market. There are no shopping malls within the city
walls, just small stores. So every week,
the mall comes to the town in the way of the market. You can find anything here – anything!
I told everyone I met that day that it was my birthday. Because I think everyone should be treated
extra special on their birthdays, and people will respond in kind if they
know. I told the waiter at my favorite
cappuccino spot – and I got a free cappuccino.
I told Mister Pizza, and he gave me a free slice and a kiss on the cheek. He also told me that if I came back next year
he would give me an entire free pizza. I
told the waiter at the spot I went for dinner, he told the owner who gave me a
free small bottle of wine and then the staff sang Happy Birthday to me in
Italian and I got a free desert with a candle on top.
A street musician who was strolling by at the time, stopped and
played a song he called “Get out Chicago”, just for me. There is kindness to be found everywhere,
sometimes you just have to ask for it in order for it to show itself.
I love every one of my 11 days in Siena. I never got tired of walking the same streets
or seeing the same sites. My only prayer
is that my mind can always remember these images so I can come back any time I want
to by just closing my eyes and remembering…
Next stop – Pisa!
Ciao ~
No comments:
Post a Comment