Part of why Siena is so cool is this Contrada business. Apparently all medieval towns used to be split up into neighborhoods but Siena is the only one that is still so hard core about it. Within the old city walls the buildings are split up into neighborhoods or Contrade. There are 17 contrade, mostly animals. If you live outside the city walls then you just adopt a contrada, but contrada is like family so once you're in there's no changing, even if you move into another contrada. I have adopted the Unicorn, for obvious reasons. Each contrada has a fountain and a museum. The Sienese take this whole Contrada business very seriously. Since I've been here I've seen a few contrada parades. I've never seen so many old and young men in tights and ridiculous outfits, but it's completely acceptable because it is for your contrada.
So the main event for these Contrade is the Palio. If you've had the pleasure of seeing the new James Bond movie then you have an idea of what this consists of. Twice a year they have a huge horse race in the Piazza del Campo. Ten contrade get to race each time. So three of the contrade are lucky and get to race twice. Sadly we weren't here for either of them, they are in like July and August or something, but apparently it is absolutely crazy. If you rent an apartment overlooking the Campo, your contract excludes the days of the Palio and your place is rented out for those who want a good view. Here's the gay part. Each contrada draws out of a hat, or something like that, to see which horse they get. These horses are purposely not all created equal. There is clearly one that is awesome and one that sucks and everything in between. So it appears that the real contest is who is going to draw the best horse. They also hire professional jockeys. Apparently the jockey of the winning team last year was paid something like $700,000. Now do you understand how obsessed they are?
They also have huge rivalries that go years back. Everyone is friends even if you are from the rival contrada, but apparently during the Palio season you just stop talking to those friends.
I think this contrada deal is awesome. Yes they are a little over the top about it, but it is cool history that they hang onto.
1 comment:
So I'm slightly confused where your lucky to have been where i've been post disappeared to but nonetheless I'm glad you've been having such an amazing time in Italy (well more jealous actually) but I'm ready for you to get back here to the US! when is your exact date of arrival back here? A major reunion is in store for thanksgiving! yeah!
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