Siena is ready for its close-up!

The thing about Italy, or at least all the small cities and towns that we visited, is that it feels like you’re on a movie set. Most of these towns were built in the Middle Ages, and you somehow get the feeling that no one has felt the need to change much since then.
Not that that’s all bad. It certainly makes for some picturesque sightseeing and great photos. But Italians like their buildings old and their towns quaint, and maybe it’s all for the tourists, but it sometimes seems impossible that anyone actually lives in these places.
Having said that, we traveled by bus from the beautiful towns of the Cinque Terre to the celebrated town of Siena, which is home to the Palio. The Palio is a horse race which, in its “modern” form, has been going on in Siena since 1650. Twice a year, on July 2 and August 16, the city of Siena holds the Palio. Ten of Siena’s seventeen Contrade, or neighborhoods, are represented in each race. As you might imagine, there is a great deal of competition between these neighborhoods and emotions run high.
Each contrade has its own chapel wherein their horse is blessed before the race. Next door is the neighborhood’s Palio museum where they keep the medieval uniforms worn during the Palio and its accompanying parade, as well as any banners won by that Contrade. The Palio is actually the silk banner, which is the only prize of the race, which is run in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
There are great artistic competitions to design these banners, which are quite beautiful.
The horses of the Palio are revered; the jockeys are basically hired hands who can bet on the race, join forces against each other, and during the race are allowed to whip their own horse as well as their human competitors, though they cannot whip another man’s horse. Oh, and as a side note, a riderless horse can win the Palio. Thus you can see the esteem in which jockeys are held.
We had tried to watch the Palio on the TV in the restaurant in Monterosso al Mare, but since the Siennese line up the horses with ropes, this is a process that can take hours, and so we gave up and ate our dinner.
We discovered that the Caterpillar neighborhood had won (the other Contrade have symbols such as the Eagle, the Little Owl, the Dragon, etc.). What this means is that the inhabitants of that neighborhood have bragging rights till the next Palio and usually parade around Siena, beating drums and celebrating in the Piazza del Campo, which is the central square of the city, the perimeter of which is covered in dirt for the horses, while thousands of people stand in the center to watch the race.
When we arrived on August 18, they were still removing the dirt from the Campo, but the party was on. The Caterpillar kids were out in their Caterpillar neckerchiefs, which they tie around their necks with a pacifier to symbolize the “new life” their victory has brought.
Walking the cobbled, almost traffic free streets of Siena and hearing the colorful history of the Palio only reinforced my belief that Italy is a land frozen in time, tradition-laden and totally camera ready.