After Florence Perla and I took the bus to Siena. We spent a day wandering around the city, sitting in the piazza and watching people. Siena is a gorgeous little city. This is the main piazza, Piazza del Campo.
The Duomo di Siena was astounding. I really like imagining the planning of a building like this. For example, how could they ensure symmetry on this beast?
There's an annual horse race in Siena called the Palio, which is a VERY big deal. The Palio is a bareback race around the piazza del campo, with more than 1000 spectators crammed into the center of the piazza. Siena is broken up in to contrade (neighborhoods), each of which has a special flag and colors that displayed in the street. There are 17 contrade in Siena, but only 12 (I think) spots, so not all contrade get to participate. Weeks before the Palio, each participating contrade demonstrates their braun by marching their colors around Siena, beating drums and tossing flags. The race is won by the horse that best represents the contrade, not the jockey.
Great blogging Phoebe! How are you ever going to adjust back to a world without pure Italian food and plazas at your fingertips?
ReplyDeleteCan we talk about how amazing the leggings/tights are that match the drums?!
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