Getting Ready

Each year, July 2nd is the first Palio of the summer. (The second coming on August 16th). Preparations for the big event are now underway and the city is filling up.

The race is run each year among 10 of the 17 contrade or neighborhoods in the city of Siena. Each contrade has its own symbol, color, and flag. As the summer and the first Palio approaches, the contrade begin to mark their neighborhoods. Here the Onda (Wave) contrade has put out their lamps and flags to let everyone know where they are.

The race is run over 3 laps around the Campo, the main town square. Here is what it looks like for 50 weeks a year.

And here is what the Campo is like for one week before the Palio in July and again before the Palio is August. A dirt track is laid for the horses to run on. This dirt is as hard as the most poorly kept infield you could possibly find at a little league field in the States. It is hard as rock...and does not get tilled for the races.

We took the kids into the city in Sunday night and were lucky enough to bump into the Onda contrade marching through the city streets. Contrade regularly march, wave flags and sing their contrade anthems during Palio season. In the video you can see the members of the contrade marching in their traditional order: flags and drums, babies and their parents, school children, then elder men and women. They ended this parade in the Campo.

The scarf they wear around their neck indicates their contrade. We've been laughing about how Rick Steves talks about the scarves in his 2009 Italy book. He says that you can buy the scarves and members of the contrade are happy to have you jump into their parade and join the festivities, if only for the afternoon you are visiting Siena. Some advice...don't really try this. The Sienese take the contrade business very seriously and any tourist would be crazy to actually try to 'pose' as a contrade member for a day, or even an hour. This is a bad, bad idea. Buy a scarf and take it home; they are beautiful. But it's best not to wear one in the city unless you are an actual member of a contrade. :)