A City Built to Last - Part II
We arrived in Siena in the middle of September and on Sunday morning we heard drums beating, their sounds echoing off the walls of the narrow streets. We walked toward the sound and found a procession of young boys and men dressed in gold and blue thigh-length doublets and tights, beating drums and carrying flags. To watch them march by was like watching the profiles of medieval portraits come to life. Some had blue or green eyes but all had dark hair. Later that Sunday afternoon we heard the drums again, augmented by a band and followed by mothers pushing baby carriages and grandmothers wearing blue and yellow scarves. We learned that each Contrada has their Sunday to march.
The Sienese people were very friendly and welcoming. As we walked by a university for people from other lands on Monday, the door was open and we could see a lovely garden surrounded on three sides by their building. We wandered in and admired the lovely view of the countryside. The gardener was so happy and proud of his work that he told us that even at fiesta time he wishes he was back in his garden working. He cut a rose for us as a gift for the senora, meaning the white-haired grandmother of our group.
Our rooms were in the Hotel Piccolo, that was built in 1700’s and owned by the Fattorini family for generations. . It was built around a small courtyard. The walls were stone and two feet thick. Our bathroom was tiled with flowered tile and the shower was in one corner of the room with a drain under it. It was open to the rest of the bathroom and the toilet paper had a metal cover to protect it from the spray. Our room was on second floor and it was necessary to punch a key system to enter the hall. Then we punched a light switch which turned the hall light on for exactly three minutes then it went off. After we used our key to open the door, it was necessary to place the key in a slot by the door in order to turn on the lights of the rooms. Lights were controlled individually once the key was in the slot. As we left, we took the key and the lights turned off.
An incident happened which shows how misunderstandings can develop between cultures because of the language barrier. We noticed a ladder in the hallway as we left for breakfast, and when we came back, it was placed against the wall outside and a young couple appeared to be hanging around. We thought they were trying to steal the ladder so we took it back inside. Later we learned that the couple lived in the building, had locked their key inside and were trying to climb in to retrieve it. Security was excellent in every hotel we stayed in. The room doors locked to the outside as soon as they were shut. There was always a security lock on the door on the outside of the building which opened when we identified ourselves.
On a bright sunny Sunday morning, we visited the church of the Dominicans
which is the home church of St. Catherine of Siena who is the patron saint
of Italy along with St Francis of Assisi. We sat for a while and absorbed
the serenity of this simple church. The mystic, Catherine, received her
visions and stigmata there in 1375. She is revered for her work tending
the sick during the bubonic plague which killed four-fifths of Siena’s
population, but she is most remembered for her work in persuading Pope
Gregory XI to come back to Rome from Avignon in France. She also negotiated
peace between the Florentines and the Pope in 1378. She died at the age
of 33 in Rome. Her body was interred there, but in special recognition
of her home church, her head resides as a relic in the Basilica of San
Dominica.
The Sienese all remember the date of September 4th, 1260, when the
army of Siena defeated the much larger forces of Florence, their powerful
neighbor to the north. Rivalry festered through the centuries. Finally,
in 1559, the Florentines aided by Spanish soldiers conquered Siena and
the city became a part of the vast holdings of the Granduchy of Florence
and was forced to pay tribute in sacks of flour each year to their Medici
rulers. Just outside the city walls is the huge, thick-walled fortress
of the Medicis, a ponderous symbol of the lost freedom of Siena. It is
now a wine cellar which celebrates and promotes Italian wines.
After that defeat, Siena has remained a “Sleeping Beauty” relatively unchanged and proud of its traditions. For visitors Siena is a chance to see what a medieval city was like and enjoy the hospitality of its friendly people.
– Mary