SIENA & THE PALIO - WHAT A VENUE FOR A HORSE RACE - PART 1

I finished off my last posting in Siena's Palazzo Salimbeni so it's onward now to the city's most famous space the Campo or to give it its proper name the Piazza del Campo. I love the musicality of the Italian language and just saying it got me excited. I first saw it on that dreary Boxing Day trip in 2011, so now I would be able to savour it in all its glory drenched in sun and with a glorious blue sky above it.

First though the topography of the city centre. This will be important in explaining bits and bobs later on so here goes. The city sits on top of a hill of three gently undulating ridges and way back in the medieval period these formed arteries radiating from a meeting point at the juncture of  three districts or TERZI.

THIS AERIAL PHOTO CLEARLY SHOWS THE POSITION OF THE CAMPO AND
THE RADIATING ARMS OF THE STREETS LEADING IN TO THE THREE TERZI

Together they define the oldest part of the city within the city walls which were built for defensive purposes during the 12th and 13th centuries. Each Terza was then subdivided into a number of contrade  and there was a fort or rocca to the northwest which can still be seen today
.
The terzi are:

TERZO DI CAMOLLIA
TERZO DI SAN MARTINO
TERZO DI CITTA (the oldest part of all Siena)

THE CAMPO IS SITUATED AT THE HEART OF THE THREE TERZI
AND THE CONTRADE ARE SIGNFICANT IN THE PALIO HORSE RACE

If you are one of my few dedicated followers, you will know I wrote last time about entering Siena through the Porta di Camollia in to the Istrice contrada; this contrada in turn forms part of the Terzo di Camollia. The area grew up along an enclosed bit of the Via Francigena - the whole an ancient route way which began in northern Europe and provided pilgrims with a road to travel on as they made their way first to Rome and then on to the Holy Land. That Saturday afternoon, as we strolled along the street, I revelled in absorbing this history knowing I was treading the path of pilgrims who'd entered the city by this route all those centuries ago.

Next it was time to discover the Campo so we walked a bit further on from the Palazzo Salembini but just beyond it is a corinthian column with a piece of sculpture on top of it representing a wolf feeding a pair of young boys, Ah - Romulus and Remus I can hear you cry and I can also hear "but they were the founders of Rome so what are they doing here in Siena?". Well - yes there is a connection. It turns out that the Roman she-wolf recalls the legend, according to the tourist publicity anyway, of Ascius and Senius, running away from Rome after the murder of their father Remus by Romulus and founding a new community right here. I hate to tell you though that more serious sources, based on the archaeological evidence, ascribe an Etruscan (pre-Roman) origin to Siena and only later did it become a Roman town. The wolf and young boys, however, turn up all over the city for there's another pair of columns outside the front entrance to the cathedral with the same story told in sculptural form on top of them!

THE SHE-WOLF WITH ASCIUS AND SENIUS
ARE EMBEMATIC OF THE CITY OF SIENA

By this time I knew we were almost at our destination and ready to encounter the wonderful Campo. Sure enough, a few paces forward brought us to the top of an archway covered flight of steps leading down to the Campo and what a perfect vantage point for a first glimpse of what some say is Italy's finest square! Walking down the steps it gives the impression of descending in to a giant dish or shell and in some ways its just like that.

A FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE CAMPO IN SIENA

At the centre of the three Terzi in early medieval times this spot was a field used for the sale of livestock and it wasn't until the 13th century - due to its central position - that it was chosen by the city elders as a perfect site for the civic centre of the growing and increasingly wealthy city. It was paved over at this time but not straightforwardly. The photo below shows the square from above in this borrowed image. Measuring 333 metres round its shell shaped perimeter it was subdivided into 9 divisions - a visual representation of the council of nine who ruled the city according to some experts. It was completed in the 14th century.

SIENA'S WONDERFUL CAMPO
THE BOTTOM PHOTO SHOWS PART OF THE SEGMENTED
NINE SECTIONS OF PAVING WHICH DATE FROM THE 13TH CENTURY

The Palazzo Publico, the city chambers if you like, dominates the top side of the square. It was designed to deliberately separate the civic square from the market square behind and it epitomises the power and wealth of Siena at the beginning of the 14th century. Architecturally its a distinctive domestic version of the Tusccan gothic style. The three parts, a central block with a pair of wings, don't line up to present a single flat elevation. Instead the wings project inwards slightly giving the impression of embracing the public space like a girdle. The original structure was modified at different times - the wings for example had an additional storey put on each later in the 14th century. The lower part of the building was constructed in stone and is punctuated with a series of pointed arched windows. The storeys above are built in terra cotta coloured red brick - again pierced with pointed arched windows - this time the mullions were made as white marble columns. The top of the central block is encrusted with a wealth of decorative detail beneath the crenellations and I wished I'd had a pair of binoculars to look at them more clearly. Attached to the central part of the facade is a huge copper shield with a painting of Jesus Christ, emblematic of St Bernadino and painted in 1425 by Battista Niccolo di Padova. The the left the eye is drawn to the dominating, tall brick tower - the Torre del Mangia - named after an eccentric ringer whol tolled the bell at the top of it in earlier times.
The present bell used today was cast in 1665.

There are wonderful views to be had from the top of the tower, but there's no lift to the viewing platform so its a steep climb to the top. Our friend Peter, who's a bit of a fitness chappie, was up and down the tower like a shot, but we three stayed firmly on the ground. At the reunion and to celebrate Peter's achievment we enjoyed tasty but hugely expensive gelatos bought from a kiosk in the campo itself.

JON, PETER & PHILIP ENJOY AN EXPENSIVE ICE CREAM
TO CELEBRATE PETER'S ASCENT OF THE TOWER IN THE CAMPO

Round the square most of the buildings are of a similar period and many of them have been adapted to house modern day bars and restaurants like the one shown in the photograph. The architecture was deliberately designed to complement that of the Palazzo. These provide wonderful opportunities for people watching as they all have outside seating areas, but the visitor needs to be wary - they are, not surprisingly, expensive ! Most of the visitors to the square this sunny Saturday afternoon seemed happy to lie on the central paved area for there are no public seats.

THE BUILDING TO THE LEFT HAS AN ARCHITECTURAL STYLE
WHICH CLEARLY RESONATES WITH THE PALAZZO PUBLICO

THE CAPELLA DI PIAZZA - PALAZZO PUBLICO - SIENA

The Capella di Piazza is an interesting architectural structure built at the foot of the tower of the Palazzo Publico. The main structure was erected and dedicated to the Virgin in thanks for those from the city fortunate enough to have survived the Black Death which swept through the area in 1348. The ornamentation is stylistically different from the other details found on the rest of the palazzo. The reason - this was applied some time later between 1468 and 1470 and in the style of the classical Renaissance which was making its effects known in Siena from Florence just then. Further additions were made when niches and statues were introduced at even later dates. So there's a good opportunity to hone an eye for architectural details here in the Campo and spot the differences between Gothic and Renaissance elements - all in the space of a few yards.

Well there we almost have it - a fabulous medieval Tuscan gothic building in a wonderful public space, but we haven't finished there. One of the most noticeable features of the square is the broad, flattened causeway like structure which runs right round the perimeter of the entire space enveloping it like a girdle. This is the famous track on which the Palio horse race is run, once in July and once in August each year. This infamous and exciting race has a story all of its own and I'll tell that in part 2 of this item.

THE PALIO TRACK CAN BE SEEN IN THE GREY AREA
BETWEEN THE PAVED AREA AND THE BUILDING LINE.

CIAO & KBO
IAN

Part 2 will be published soon.