THE MYSTERIES OF SIENA

In the heart of Tuscany,with that enigmatic landscape known as the "crete" a wasteland suitable for conversations with the devil-as a bakdrop, rises a magical city with an intense silhouette    of towers and pinnacles. No,not magical in the sense of  fabulous or extraordinary, expressions that an unthinking tourist might use, but magical in the sense of inexplicable, and capable of autentic prodigies.
There are amny cities in the world that have attained a certain notoriety in the sphere of the occult.
We know that, for this reason, Prague attracts hoards of visitors; we know all about the overcrowded community of ghosts that dwell at Turin, at a stone's throw from the production lines and the robots of the Fiat car factory; to mention but two.
According to the scenario, magical places carry with them a certain reek of sulphur or of cemeteries. Instead, Siena has different aromas: because is it both magical and alive. It is for this reason, I believe, that it has become an exception to the rule. Here, unworldly things happen that have, however, firm roots in the most commonplace matters of life.
For example, witches are summoned, not for the usual, rather debasing conjactures regarding jealousy or money, but to bring victory to the contrada ( city ward) in that great and lively horse race, the winner of whichtakes possession of the prize, the Palio.
It is impossible to enumerate the invocations and spells cast to protect the horse and colours of each contrada from the enchanted arrows of its adversaries. The often derisive tone does not rule out a profound sincerity of feeling.
There are, though, other more touching facts that reveal a bond with mystery that is much stronger than those customs commonly defined as superstitious.
Here-among a hundred- is an episode to which I was an eye witness on the occasion of a victory of the Palio by the Contrada of the Chiocciola. The city quarter was, of course, transformed into a kind of simple, popular, earthly paradise where all came to drink wine from the fountains and eat at tables put out in the streets closed to the traffic. The members of the Chiocciola gave an incredible significance to the celebrations: they even invited the dead to the banquet. Entering the Oratory of the Contrada, in fact, one could see all the altars covered with portraits of the deceased relations of the members of the Contrada. Hundreds of photograhs, bots recent and yellow with age. In other words, the vital miracle of the triumph of the Palio had also to be shared with those who were no longer of this world, but lived on in the memory of the living: grandparents, old uncles and aunts, prematurely dead cousins and friends of once upon a time were asked to leave their heavenly paradise and relive a few hours in the collective joy.
"Because in Siena nobody is alone they told me not even when they are dead"
In every contrada they will tell you stories similar to this.
Sometimes a colour is enough to start up emotive mechanisms that would be unthinkable elsewhere.
And so, during the 1990 football world cup, half the Contrada of the Selva supported Italy while the other half cheered on Ireland that had the extraordinary honor of wearing the same colours as the Contrade: green, orange and white. Who really wishes to see the Palio must do so through the eyes of paradox and mystery.
Otherwise he will miss the very essence and the profound vibration of it all.

by Emilio Ravel...

Siena Tuscany-italy

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