Siena from an Italian Perspective

I have made Italian friends! And I now have the opportunity to see Italy in a whole new way. This evening, I ate dinner with my family and then went out into the city to meet up with my new language exchange partner. We got gelatto, ran into some of her friends on the Piazza del Campo, ran into more of her friends all over everywhere else, went to the Contrada party of the Chiocciola contrada (Snail, pronounced Key-OH-cho-la).

At the contrada party, we saw a group of Italian guys (college aged looking) lining up near rope. There was a man on a megaphone too. My friend explained to us that this was a race, and that it was a mini palio. With people only. And sure enough, all of the guys were in pairs. one was in front of the other, and the one behind held the other's shirt and wore a helmet painted with various contradas' colors. They were all running in a circle pushing each other and jostling for the best position, just as happens in the real Palio! It was very funny to see. The contrada party was basically a big block party. Apparently the get very large and very awesome, and I will definitely try to go to some.

Giraffa is having one outside my window right now.

If you remember from three weeks ago, there was music outside my window at night two of the first three nights I was here. That week my contrada's flags were up, which means it was a holiday for them. I now know that the music was from the Contrada party, as it is now!

More fun coincidences- So today two friends and I were leaving the Orto di Tolomei, and the Onda contrada (Wave) was having a parade today. They were all starting to line up and get ready on the road that we had to walk on to get home. And as we were walking, one of the men took his banner and made as if he were going to hit me on the head!

I tell this story because when I was out with my new Italian language partner/friend, we ran into a few of her friends on the Piazza del Campo, one of whom is from the Onda contrada. She asked something like this: "Hai visto la sfilata della contrada dell'onda oggi?" (did you see the parade today of the Onda contrada?)

I said "Sì! un uomo dalla contrada ha provato di colpirmi sulla testa con la sua bandiere! " (Yes, and one of the men tried to hit me on the head with his flag!)

She laughed and answered, "Ha provata di colpirti? Lui portava bianca e azzuro? Quel era mia fratello!" (He tried to hit you? He was wearing blue and white? That was my brother!)

me: "Davvero????!!!!!!"

So I met the sister of the man who acted as if he were going to hit me with his banner. I laughed very, very hard.

Siena is a very small world when you know it from the inside.

It was a very fun evening, and I can't wait to hang out with her again and see more of Siena from her perspective. We helped each other with phrases and wording, and got to speak Italian to many people. Because we were in places where it was noisy, at times it was hard for me to follow conversations, but I know that I will be able to learn a lot from her and now have a window in to really encountering the culture.

I already feel like I can see the city in a whole new way, and now I feel like I have encountered Italy as it has potential to be.