Il Palio and the Tuscan countryside (Tuesday 13th August 2013)

Today was comprised of two major activities – the “Il Palio” and our first real glimpse of the Tuscan country-side.

I mentioned briefly the “Il Palio” in yesterday's blog. We were up early for breakfast, a rarity for the traveling Smiths, and hit the pavement by 8:15am. Down the Via Camollia we strode hoping to get a good position to watch the first practice session for the horses and riders. We arrived at 8:30am and already the crowds were beginning to gather at Piazza del Campo, We passed many of the locals decked out in their colours on the way down. The “wards” I mentioned yesterday are actually called Contrade. Visit www.sienaonline.com to get the whole complicated picture about how Siena is governed and the relationship between that and this unique horse race. It's too complicated to go into in this forum, but very interesting, nevertheless.

We got a good possie in the inside of the rails at the northern end of the piazza. The centre of the piazza was about one quarter full but the stands were packed. At 9:30am a cannon was fired and the first of ten horses with riders strode onto the track. They lined up at the starting line and a second cannon fired to start the first practice race.

The horses tore away from the starting line and were going full tilt by the time they reached us. I was leaning over the rail getting some footage as they raced past and almost got cleaned up. The horses did three of four laps before a third cannon fired to mark the end of the first practice. A brief respite and then another ten horses came out for the second practice. There were four practices all together over about 1.5 hours. All horses did not necessarily finish with riders. We saw five or six spills during the session.

The captains of each contrade and the Major of Siena then gathered to select the ten horses that would run. Once agreed, lots were drawn to determine which horse would race for which contrade. More of what happens next, later.

Our original plan was to visit the medieval, hill-top village of San Gimignano, about half-way between Siena and Florence. We had bought our tickets the night before so now it was just a matter of working out which bus to catch! Through a combination of help from a bus driver (in Italian), Emily's French coaching and the electronic timetable we worked it out, got a coffee and caught the bus. The trip was only 12 euro return and took about an hour (via the scenic (bus) route). The town is famous for its many towers, erected by their respective owners over the centuries to let the world known about their wealth. At one time there were 72 towers. Today it's down to 16 or so. Still an impressive sight. The town afforded magnificent 360 degree views across a classic Tuscan landscape. Olive groves, vineyards, cut hay, orange terracotta rooved houses on hilltops near and far, roads lined by thin cypress pines, church bell-towers, distant hills and mountains all framed against a cloudless blue sky.

The village itself is OK. We'd done Carcassonne in France so it was not so special. Don't et me wrong, it was nice and had we not seen Carcassonne I'd be more excited. Like Carcassonne the main street was full of sellers of souvenir trash mixed with retailers of some nice leather products and fresh produce. Wild boar prosciutto was the stock in trade of o9ne shop. The main square at the top of the village has market running selling all sorts of things from electronic gadgets (OK, I bought an Italian to UK plug converter) to death metal tee-shirts.

Kerry bought some mixed dried fruit for us to munch on as we strolled around. We had a simple lunch of melon and prosciutto then visited the town's church. It's walls are lined floor to ceiling with frescos depicting scenes from the old and new testament, some of them quite macabre and grotesque. Pretty soon it was time to get the second last bus back to Siena. A good day in the country and good practice for the Amazing Race!

Back in Siena we posted some postcards we'd written on the bus and were heading for the restaurant we ate in last night when we came across a crowd of people clad in the orange, black and white of the Lupa contrade. We thought we'd just hang around for a short while to see what might happen.

Before long a led horse appeared from an adjacent laneway followed by the young men of the contrade. The horse was led down the street towards Piazza del Campo followed by the women, children and elderly similarly attired. The young men were belting out the contrade's “club song” with great gusto. Of course we followed behind.

At the next intersection of major streets the people of two other contrade were met coming from the opposite direction. The long standing rules of engagement were adhered to and the groups continued down the one street in an orderly fashion one after the other. Having the eagle-eye police nearby probably helped. Th8s intersection was just a sea of humanity. The normally busy, but navigable streets were grid-locked. What sight to see and capture on film and video. We continued on, now caught in the push, and found ourselves on the racetrack in Piazza del Campo. The stands were full, the track was full and the centre of the piazza was full. If the streets were a sea of humanity, this was an ocean. Tonight was the first parade of the horses and the riders they had been paired with in the colours of the contrade.

For us, it was time to leave. We'd had enough of the experience to never forget it. We tried to make our way across the track to the safety of the lanes beyond the stands but found that almost impossible. A swarm of people were moving in an anti-clockwise direction along the track and we were trying to move across the track. Once we reached the other side with a bit of push and shove the next challenge was to get through the narrow opening between the stands directly against the incoming tide. With wall to wall, excited, alcohol fueled, testosterone filled young men it became a little scary. The whole “Il Palio” celebration has a well-documented history of violence by the young men who demonstrate a fierce loyalty to their contrade. For me there was a real sense of a powder-keg environment in the arena.

We walked back along almost deserted streets. Most of the shops and many of the restaurants were not open. The streets had but a relative few tourists strolling around. How do I know they were tourists? Not a single one of them was sporting the colours of any of the contrade. Luckily we found the same restaurant as last night open so ducked in there for dinner to end a day full of new experiences.