Saturday 29th in Siena

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What a night we had (but not as bad as it might have been). A 5-person soft rock group by the name of Lo Stato Sociale performed from 9PM until Midnight. The setup – stage, lights, huge SOUND system and fog machine – took two days to prepare (with regular testing of the sound system … which rattled the windows in the flat). When the concert was in full swing there were about a thousand young people dancing and clapping and singing along with the band. Most enjoyable to watch from our vantage point. At the end, the main vocalist climbed out onto the crowd and was moved around and then deposited back on the stage for the finale. Great fun.

Of course the band dismantled their equipment from midnight until 2AM so there were some periods of sleeplessness prior to getting up at 8AM. Nevertheless we had a nice breakfast and out the door by mid morning to walk to the one section of Siena we had not visited: Basilica dei Servi and the Ram Contrada. Did we mention that Siena is divided up into 17 different sections and they complete each year in two horse races (Palio) to determine bragging rights (it used to be that the winner ran the city council but they have moved away from that formula). This year there will be three Palios with the last one in October celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the end of World War One. In preparation for the Palio each of the competing contrada march – drums, flags and folks in costume – into the Campo at midnight. We’re hoping that this last evening they decide to do it earlier so we can sleep through the night. No complaints as the procession is most enjoyable. However, one evening the Dragon Contrada did their round of the Campo and then settled in for an hour of drums. Not as much fun. We have enjoyed our stay in Siena.

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