Romulus and Remus?

Monday, 25 June

Today was a quiet day.  Randy had to go to the grocery store early so that we could have enough food for breakfast.  Then we went to Siena.  Parking was absolutely crazy--we luckily found one by the football (soccer) stadium.  Then walked to the town hall (the Palazzo Pubblico) with a large tower (Torre di Mangia) next to it.  Joshua saw the tower in a book a few weeks before we left and was hoping to be able to see it while we were here--yay!   In front of the town hall is a square--the Piazza del Campo, which has been called one of the world’s most beautiful squares.  

The Piazza del Campo

The Palazzo Publicco and Torre di Mangia

Short history lesson:  in Sienna, the power of the town was once divided into 17 tribes or clans (similar to wards or parishes), called the contrade.  Many other cities also had these, but in Siena, they continue to flourish.  If a child is born in the contrade, they are automatically become a member and pregnant women are often rushed across the city to give birth in the right place.  The contrade maintain the city’s traditions and sense of identity.  Italian law recognizes them as legally chartered communities with officials elected each May.  Each contrade has its own chapel, museum, fountain, colors, and flag.  They hypothesize that the built-in community solidarity and social control may account for the city’s low crime rate.  The Palios are held twice a year and there is a great deal of contrade activity then.  The Palios are horse races held twice a year in the Piazza del Campo.  Only 10 contrade compete each time (drawn by lot) because the track is so narrow (3 times around the Piazza del Campo).   One interesting fact is that the jockeys ride bareback and that a riderless horse can still win!   The procession before the race with the contrade in medieval costumes and flag throwing contests (remember Under the Tuscan Sun?) is long, but the race only lasts a few minutes.  The palio will be run this Friday--we saw all of the stands for spectators already set up around the edges of the Campo.  Randy found a restaurant with a very kind man that allowed us to use his wi-fi (free of charge), even though we weren’t eating there.  He invited the children and I to wait with Randy but we decided to look more closely at the courtyard of the Palazzo Pubblico and at some of the souvenir shops.   

The streets around the Campo are the typical narrow streets that are mostly full of people walking (though the occasional car slowly comes through).   All around the city, we kept seeing what we assumed was Romulus and Remus with the “she-wolf” they were mothered by (in legend).  But both Joshua and I had read that both Romulus and Remus lived in Rome their entire lives.  Then we read some of the history of the city that is here in our apartment and found that Siena was founded by Remus‘ two sons who were also, according to legend, suckled by a wolf.  One son rode a black horse and one rode a white horse, so black and white are the colors of the city.  

This color scheme seems to have been played out in the Duomo--the cathedral.  

The Duomo

The tower is even striped!

The interior

The front of the cathedral is a beautiful jewelbox in white and pink marble with a mosaic at the top and tons of carved stone.  The tower and interior are striped black and white marble.  I asked one of the staff about the pillars in the church.  They are stone on the inside and covered with the stripes of black and white marble.  Inquiring minds needed to know!    I also took a picture of the dome (though the lantern didn’t show up well becuase of the sunlight flooding through it:

We also saw the library of ancient music books.  The room was absolutely beautiful (all painted) and the ancient books of music were available to view under glass.  The illuminations on them were unbelievable.  It’s amazing that they could sing that!  

The ceiling of the library

After the Duomo we walked to our car (about half of the cars were gone by then--around 2:45) and drove home.  

We ate a late lunch, then had a quiet afternoon reading and relaxing, until the children went swimming and we had a late dinner and played cards.