This was probably one of my favorite things of Siena. So we went on this two hour long two of Siena, where I probably learned more than I ever would in a history class. Who knew that Siena was full of SO much history! I was just in such utter awe the entire tour. Apparently Siena holds 20,000 people within the city walls (which is like less than UC Berkeley) and then 54,000 including the outsiders . We walked by some of the buildings that were literally centuries and centuries old! And on almost every random corner, there is an old painting of the virgin mary just randomly as part of the building, like are you serious! We would never have that anyone in America haha.
Also, I am sure most people have heard of the Horse races that take place in Siena, which are still in such full force! I wish SO much that we could be there!
The Polio is a horse race between all of the “Contrada,” which are the separate neighborhoods of Siena. The entire town is split up between 17 Contrada, which are symbolized by animals: for example, the horse, the dolphin, the lion, the monkey, etc etc. There are ancient statues/ fountains throughout the city that mark each neighborhood. Seven of these contrada compete at a time, and then during the next race, they switch to another seven. The races happen once in July and once in August. Apparently the whole town parties the entire two months even if they don’t win. It is amazing how much people get into their contrada too, supporting their animals and colors by the interior of their houses haha.
Also on this tour, we all of a sudden walked into the Duomo, aka, I think one of the prettiest churches I have ever seen! All Striped and so entricate!... then we went to another church, the church that Saint Catherine of Siena used to attend, and this is where it gets even crazier…Apparently Saint Catherine is one of the few (including Saint Francis of Assisi), who (shoot I forgot what it was called), well she as you could say “felt Jesus Christ’s wounds”, like she started bleeding from her palms… Saint Catherine also started fasting around 15 and didn’t eat for two years (weird haha) and she had this disease that made her paralyzed, so she would sit on a bed all day, but instead she sat on a bed of like thorns because she would torture herself for god… And, craziest part, is that one of her fingers, and her head! (yes I repeat head) is preserved right there in the church! And we just like walked in! this just shows you how small Siena is because they can have these things in churches, without worrying that someone will come steal them (no sure who would want to steal someones face though ahaha). There was also the only real self-portrait of saint Catherine ever made there). Just crazy!!!
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