This morning we learned about the most bizarre Sienese ritual – the Palio. The Palio, which dates back to 1208, is a ten-horse race run twice a year – July and August – around the Piazza Del Campo. Randomly assigned jockeys representing ten of Siena’s contrada – all 17 outlined in this map – race, bareback, randomly chosen horses (unless the jockey gets a better offer from another contrada in which case a substitute must be found) three times around an artifically created track. Passions and loyalties are fierce, and the competition between the contradas is serious business. Havng the good luck of racing the best horse with the best jockey does not ensure success as you will see in the video below.

Jockeys are supplied with a stick. They can hit their own horse and other jockeys with the stick, but they must not hit another jockey’s horse. The winner of the race is the horse – yes! the horse, not the jockey – that crosses the finish line first. It matters not whether the jockey makes it to the end. WARNING: The video below shows the sheer absurdity of this race, but is not comfortable viewing for animal lovers (you Tracey!). Watch to the end to see who wins!

This is what the Piazza del Campo normally looks like.

We visited one contrada – the Goose (all contradas are named after animals or birds). It felt a bit over the top – goose images were on the walls and on the floor and each Palio’s jockey’s sweater was framed. I can’t think of anything in my experience to match this identity loyalty.

Following a lunch of green salad, tomatoes with burrata cheese and melon with prosciutto, we headed out to San Gimignano.

San Gimignano is a medievel hill top town and another UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was originally a town of 72 towers built by the wealthy not for security but for status. Only 14 remain today. Some collpased, some were rebuit into other buildings.

Now San Gimignano’s main economic driver is tourism though it is also known for vernaccia, a prized white wine, and cultivation of saffron. Here is a selection of photos from our ramble around the town.

We ended the day with a visit to Fattoria Poggio Alloro, an organic winery and ranch where we had a wine tasting followed by a lovely dinner of pasta.

Something tickled my fancy at dinner though I can’t remember what. Fino a domini.