Okay... Italians are a bit crazy...especially when it comes to competition, as anyone who's been watching the World Cup already knows. So here's the scoop on Siena. A town right out of the Renaissance... but its main feature is the Campo, which is really a gigantic town square. Well, twice a year, on July 2nd and Aug. 16th, what do they do? They race horses around the edges of this plaza. And there's a lot at stake here. Each district is represented by a horse and a rider. They race at breakneck speeds while thousands of people stand in the red brick areas in the middle screaming their heads off! The race is known as the Palio, and the winner of the race wins "bragging rights" for his district of Tuscany for the next year. Actually, the HORSE is the winner... they pronounce the winning horse that comes in, with or without a rider, as the champion. It's pretty insane considering one corner of this amphiheater shaped space has nearly a 90 degree angle turn!
Siena also has a gorgeous cathedral we called the zebra-striped church since it's made of layers of white and black marble. Quite a neat part of Tuscany!
To see the PALIO FILM Click on the words in caps and it will take you to the site sent me by an Italian gal who commented on my post. You can see what the race looks like as of this past July! It's amazing! Her blog is in Italian but if you look about 5 paragraphs down you will see the words REAL PLAYER film and a link. Click there and you will see the race! It's worth a look!
1 comment:
Hi, I've just read your post. If you're interested in Siena (and its Palio) take a look at my blog with pics, a link to see the last Palio movie (free) and to watch July's one. Ciao...
Elitre, http://ilpaliodisiena.splinder.com
(Ps. If you like it, please feel free to link to me. If you have any Palio pictures to share, drop me a line.)
Post a Comment