Under the Tuscan Sun

I would like to be able to write all about what we did during our week long stay in the Italian region of Tuscany, but I think it would take about a day out of our vacation. We went to so many fascinating hill towns, and though they did start to all run together a bit, almost all were unique and very interesting. Then there is the beautiful Tuscan countryside, which just seemed to go on and on. We stayed in a small village called Scrofiano in a great apartment. Here is a View from our window.

The highlight of the week was definitely the town of Siena. It is the biggest hill town in Tuscany, and and by far the most exciting. The primary reason for that was we went there during the start of the palio horse race. It is a race between the town's contradas (neighborhoods) and it is a big big big deal for the sienese people. The race is three laps around the town square, the piazza del Campo, with riders riding bareback. The first horse to cross the finish line wins for its contrada, whether there is a jockey on it or not. You might think that is farfetched, but second place this year was just that, horse sans rider. Here is a picture of the huge town square with the cathedral in the background.

We were actually in Siena for the drawing of the horses and the first of 6 practice races. We watched the actual Palio race on TV a day after we left Tuscany. Siena was quite hot, it was probably our hottest day so far in Italy. We didn't really know about the horse drawing, but trillion and I figured it out, mostly thanks to a pharmacist. She said the drawing was at 1:00 pm, it would be crowded on the square, and to “stay away from the people of Siena.” A little more about the Palio, the history of the contradas goes back hundreds of years, and there are bitter rivalries. Ten compete in each Palio, and they are randomly given a horse, hence the need for the draw. Each contrada parades into the square singing their songs, and then when they are given a horse, they go crazy, and parade out with their hose back to their neighborhood. Some horses I guess are known to be better then others, so when those horses are drawn, there is even more excitement.

I was getting to the point where I thought the pharmacist must have been exaggerating, when all of the sudden, during the parade out of the goose contrada, the horse was leaving without the parade of people behind it. I knew something weird was happening, and just a second later the fists were flying. There was a huge fight of about 50 people from two rival contradas, and from our perspective (which was pretty far away) it looked like everyone was just waving their fists in the air. It was absolutely crazy, and definitely something you don't see everyday.

We toured Siena for a while, Trillion and I had lunch with the Snail contrada, and then we got our spots to watch the first practice race. The amount of excitement surrounding this race was astounding, especially considering there would still be five more practices and the actual race. Everyone was singing, chanting, and just generally going crazy. The horses paraded out, got in the starting area, and suddenly they were off. The race was unfortunately about what you would expect from a practice. We watched the actual Palio on TV a few days later and it was a wild race, watch it on youtube if you are interested.

Another highlight of Tuscany was the town of Cortona. There was an auto show going on and a town festival. We also got great meal there, which Jim had been looking forward to the whole trip. The restaurant had great homemade pasta. I got the pasta with spicy sauce and sausage, and it was amazing. We also visited a really small town called Civita Baggenario, which I think is actually in Umbria. I think there are maybe 11 residents, and you have to walk across a bridge to get there. It used to be a land bridge, but it was bombed in WWII.

It was a great, but also very tiring week in Tuscany. Hopefully Trillion will be able to upload some more facebook pictures soon, at least within the next week. Goodbye to Tuscany, at least until next time...