Ebony's been tasked with writing blog numero due ✌✌
From Roma we travelled to Siena. First stop, Rome airport to pick up our rental car. We had requested a "Fiat Cinquecento" aka Fiat 500 because they tiny and would be cute to drive through Italy (Ebony owned one in Sydney for years and loves them). But sadly the rental company gave us a Fiat Panda instead. So we've affectionately (?) called him "sad panda". Probably turned out for the best because when we are in sad panda with our luggage its chock full so the smaller Fiat would have been tight
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| Lunch at Ansedonia |
Stopped on the way at a beachside town called Ansedonia to have lunch by the water. Then straight back on the road. Thanks to Big Dog (aka Ryan) for driving us for this leg of the journey, and doing the stressful job of working out how to navigate driving a manual car, on the wrong side of the road, Italian road signs and annoying google map directions. Had to stop at like six toll booths along the way lol it felt like every time we got sad panda up to 130km/hr, we had to slow down again to pay another toll..!
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| Siena's famous Il Palio |
Quick background to Siena's famous Il Palio horse race
Ryan had told me when we first met that one of his fav cities in the world is Siena. He explained that it was a medieval town in Italy that still had medieval traditions; most famously, the Il Palio horse race that happens twice a year. He told me about the flags and costumes and the 'pomp and ceremony' of it all. But despite all that, nothing really prepared me for experiencing Siena and the Il Palio for myself. It really is a unique and special experience (you'll have to go to Siena to enjoy it too!)
There are 17 ‘contrade’ (aka districts) in Siena, each with its own mascot, flag, motto, colours, emblem, chants, government, festivities and personality. They are known as the Caterpillar, Dragon, Eagle, Forest, Giraffe, Goose, Owl, Hedgehog, Panther, Ram, She-Wolf, Seashell, Snail, Tortoise, Tower, Unicorn and Wave. Walking around Siena you see the flags for each contrade hanging off walls and street lights, and every local wears a flag proudly around their shoulders, and occasionally you'll turn down a narrow alley that is full of contrada folk chanting and marching and socialising together.
The Il Palio is Italy's most famous horse race, first started in 1633 and the tradition is still very alive today. It happens twice per year, once in July and once in August. The race is a competition amongst the contrades - rumour has it, the race was created to stop fighting and violence between the rival contrades, offering an outlet for their competitive energy. These days, the race brings a sense of community within the contrade, with the locals spending the year preparing for the next Il Palio festival.
Back to our travels...
Oh goodness! Our apartment was the cutest thing we’ve ever seen. Full of amazing medieval/Bridgerton/Jane Austen/Harry Potter castle vibes. The wooden front door was so large that it had a smaller, hidden cutout for us to enter. Then we had to enter a second locked door, through a low passage way (Ryan almost didnt fit), and onto an outdoor bridge overlooking a patio area with a well and the local contrade flag. After the bridge, you take an elevator up to our floor, then through our apartment front door.
We arrived around 7pm and headed out to an Irish pub to watch Norway v Côte d'Ivoire. Then we headed to a fancy restaurant for dinner. Food was delicious, the stand out was a battered porcini mushroom starter. Ryan had steak and roast potato, and ate most of Willow's ravioli because she wasn’t a fan.
In the morning, we had delicioso breakfast. Rome was all about cornetti and coffee for breakfast, so Ryan and I tried some new things instead. Meanwhile, now that Willow has had a taste of cornetti breakfasts, she is refusing to accept anything less! Breakfasts in Siena featured 'panino sfoglia spinach' a thin pastry with spinach and ricotta filling) and the typical Sienese sweet treat, Ricciarelli (a biscuit made with almond flour and topped with icing sugar).
Our first morning in Siena, we went to watch the Il Palio trial race. The actual Il Palio race was on 2 July at 730pm. We were due to leave Siena on the morning of 2 July, so we couldn’t watch the real deal. But luckily for us, there are trial races every morning and night for the four days prior to the Il Palio. And watching the trial race suited us just fine because we would have had to stand in the sun and heat for four hours to get a spot at the real Il Palio.
It’s pretty surreal in the Piazza del Campo, the horseshoe-shaped main public square in Siena. The square is closed in by medieval buildings lined with balconies full of cheering spectators and colourful flags. The race starts with a loud (scary) bang and ends fast; the horses complete just three chaotic, high-speed laps of the del Campo. It seems like at least one jockey falls off per race around the tight corners.
After the race, we visited the Duomo, a medieval Catholic church covered in white and greenish-black marble in alternating stripes. We found a really nice restaurant for lunch – it looked like a cave! Food was awesome, the highlight was Willow loving her first carbonara (or as she calls it ‘mac and cheese’). I had a tortellini and Ryan had a wild boar ragu. (Lots of wild boar ragu on the menus in Siena).
In the afternoon, we did some wandering in and out of shops to look at all the local foods and wines and trinkets. We bought some truffle to take home, and Ryan bought a new Chianti bike outfit with the famous ‘black cock’. Apparently, he had bought a similar one in his travels with Heidi 10+ years ago, but wore it out, so he needed a new one.
We’ve been doing some research on each of the Contradas and their mottos and emblems etc. When Ryan and Heidi were here last, they each chose a Contrada to support and bought a flag each. Heidi chose the Owl and Ryan the Goose. So Willow and I decided to choose one too so we’d all have flags at home. Willow chose the giraffe! She said she is the opposite of a giraffe because they are tall and she is short, but she felt a connection with the giraffe because her year 2 class was called giraffe. I chose the hedgehog because I liked its motto: “I only use my spikes in self-defence” The hedgehog seems like a cool non-violent dude.
When it came to dinner time, the town was pretty lively with the final Il Palio practice race on at 730pm. Lots of parades and singing in the streets. A lot of restaurants were shut down to enjoy the party. But we found a good place to eat. Willow had a burger, Ryan a pigeon pasta, and I just had a salad after my large pasta lunch. We watched another world cup match too! We are loving having the World Cup to watch on while on holidays.
Willow takes us to a gelato shop every night after dinner. Her motto for the trip: “gelato every day makes the happiness stay”. Tonight’s gelato trip made Ryan very happy because he could buy a takeaway Aperol spritz to drink in the public square – a cultural experience you can’t get in Sydney.
On our final day, we had breakfast then went up to Fortezza Medicea, a medieval fortress higher up in the town with a great look out over Siena. Bye Siena! You’ve been magical 💫
Willow's Q&As:
Ryan's Q&As:
- Favourite breakfast meal/cafe:
Ricciarelli & Caffe doppio. Ricciarelli is an almond meal based biscuit and tipici dolci of Siena.
Runner up was the pistachio tiramisu
- Favourite lunch/dinner/dish/restaurant/bar:
Tortelli pasta stuffed with guinea fowl, truffle, pecorino sauce and veal stock sauce.
Wild boar parpadelle was a close 2nd
- Best cultural experience, building, performance, site:
Hearing the songs, drums and chants some of the local contradas had and seeing the Il Palio trial race was pretty cool
- Something funny/honourable mentions
Our accommodation was pretty outrageous, getting back to the room from the street involved going through a 10cm tick wooden door, walking across a bridge which had an old well under it. The room itself had a ceiling with intricate painted patterns/coat of arms
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