The Sienese Streets: a unique personality

If you are a prospective study abroad student looking at Italy and you like to party, I must advise you that Siena is probably not the place for you. While there are plenty of places to hang out at night and many people to meet, Siena is a far cry from many American college students’ typical weekend social scene. If you can hold off from sweaty dance parties for just a short four months, Siena has an incredible wealth of entertainment to offer, in the form of random, sometimes mind-boggling surprises.

I think my first indication of this phenomenon must have been dressed in black and white tights with the outfit of what appeared to me to be a medieval minstrel. My roommates and I were doing homework in our kitchen when we heard the sound of drumming approaching. We got to the window just in time to see a band of several Sienese citizens dressed in elaborate uniforms beating drums and waving flags of the Lupa (she-wolf) contrada while filing down the street outside of our apartment. For the next several days, these Lupa representatives marched through the streets of Siena showing pride for their contrada. Over the next couple weeks, different contradas sent their own representatives with their own colorful tights and flags to practice just the same form of contrada pride throughout the city streets of Siena. None of the Sienese people were at all phased by the marching minstrels. The music, the flag waving, and especially the medieval costumes, were both bizarre and beautiful to behold.

If you have read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, you should be familiar with Professor McGonagall’s giant chess set. I think it is safe to assume that we all wish we could have bore witness to the epic battle between Harry, Ron, and Hermione and giant living chess pieces. Well, Harry Potter lovers, you just might be in luck! During one of my very first weeks in Siena, I was walking along Banchi di Sopra and happened upon some Sienese people playing chess with giant pieces in front of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena Gothic revival building. I sat down at the foot of a statue and watched them play while reveling in my confusion and contentedness.

On another occasion, I was on an excursion to buy ricciarelli when I came across some Native American musicians playing native instruments and dancing and singing for an audience of Sienese passersby. I must say, I was incredibly tempted to buy their CD. Another time, I saw someone performing a marionette show with a chicken puppet on Banchi di Sopra. Once, we happened upon some fire-throwers. Sometimes, they do clown therapy by the supermarket (not my favorite). It is impossible to feel bored while walking along the streets of Siena.

Perhaps the most startling of the random incidences occurred while my American and Italian roommates and I were hanging out on the Piazza del Campo one night. We were in the midst of conversing when an elephant appeared in the Piazza. Yes, the Sienese citizens brought a live elephant into a medieval city. How did they fit it through the narrow, highly inclined streets? We will never know. Those that were leading the elephant around walked it around the Campo before they moved out of the Piazza. I suspect that the Oca (goose) contrada brought this elephant in to make fun of the Torre (elephant with a tower on its back) contrada. Regardless of the motives behind this stunt, I can safely assume that I will never accidentally see an elephant in a medieval city again.

My favorite activity in Siena is simply walking through the city streets. It is true that many strange and amusing things occur on these streets, but the streets themselves are beautiful and fascinating in their own right. Now that it is December, garlands, Christmas trees, and giant stars with Christmas lights have put up throughout Siena’s streets. Because of the beauty of these lit stars, the fact that it now gets darker earlier does not phase me. Even after the sun goes down, the city feels warm and cozy under the white lights.

When I return home in a mere couple of weeks, I will miss both the beauty and the personality of Siena’s city streets. And yet, whenever I’m feeling homesick for Siena, I must remind myself that I will never truly be without it: you need only to see those medieval minstrels once to burn their image permanently into your retinas.