Porcupine or Giraffe?

(I didn't take these pictures) Today in my Italian Cultural History class after starting our study of Dante's Inferno we headed out of the classroom and trudged our way through the slushy rain then snow across town to the Contrada dell'Onda. It never snows here but of course the one year it does, I'm here.. so much for escaping Maine's winter weather! Anyways, earlier in my blog I briefly explained about the contradas of Siena so here's a quick recap: Siena is comprised of 17 contradas. An outsider would view someone who was born here as just being from Siena. However, the Sienese people believe that first you are born into your contrada and then into Siena. Each contrada is basically its own city-state. Each has its own flag with symbol (usually an animal), seat of government, constitution and geographical boundaries - even though there may only be a narrow, cobblestone street that separates one contrada from another. It is a huge deal to be physically born into your contrada, so when the first hospital was built in Siena, it was in the Contrada dell'Istrice (the porcupine), fathers to this day, still bring in a jar of soil from their contrada to have present at the birth.

The biggest event for the contradas is the Palio which is a horse race run every summer. People come from all over the world to watch this event (it's the opening scene in the latest James Bond movie). Each contrada enters a horse (who is randomly assigned to the contrada) and jockey who they can pay up to a million euro for the best one! Not a bad salary for 90 seconds of work! The rivalries become so intense between the contradas that the jockey and the horse have 24 hour body guards for several weeks before and after the race. My teacher who is part of the Onda said that in the 80s after they won, the next day 200 members of their contrada had to go to the hospital because someone from their enemy contrada (Torre) poisoned their catered dinner. The following year when the Torre won, every Onda member was advised, for their safety, to leave Siena immediately and not return for a week (which they all did)!

After studying and hearing about the Palio from everyone I'm starting to regret not doing the summer program here! All I know is that it is definitely on my bucket list! (Sorry for the complete nerd post btw..)