The Second Day of Italy we took a trip to Siena to see their annual horse race. To your everyday American you hear horse race and you think just that, no not at all. In Siena each section is separated into 23 (cantrada) each cantrada has their own flag and filled with vibrant colors and a symbol representing that is used to represent their specific historic connection. I bought a La Lupa (lady wolf) flag its black and white to represent the colors of Siena and it has a female wolf in the center nursing two children Romulus and Remus. One founded Rome and the other's children founded Siena. But that is a different story, the horse race is unlike anything I was prepared for, inside of each cantrada they have a church where they bless the horse before the race. I hear it normally goes pretty well but in this case it did not work out that well, after they bless the horse a precession begins from the Duomo Di Siena all the way to the square it actually takes about 3-5 hours for the whole parade to actually finish, it is beautiful. Flag wavers, parade horse, floats, it was unbelievable. The greatest thing about the horse race is the belief and tradition, not only are the horse viewed as family members but whatever cantrada wins is said to have good fortune for the rest of the year until the next Palio. I was really without words.
The photos are a picture of the cantrada flag, a chandelier made in the shape of a cantrada symbol (the wave) the square where they raced when it was empty and when it filled up and a photo of one of the carriages.
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