An artist in Italy . day after the festival ofSt. Catherine, the representatives of one of the contradeparade the streets in fifteenth-century costume, playingmusical instruments—the drum far excellence—andgoing through wonderful evolutions with their Comparsa della Contrada della Tartucca—that is,the representation of the ward of the Tortoise—wasout on parade during the first Sunday after my contrada was easily localised by the banners withtheir emblem displayed at every street corner. TheComparsa having paraded its own district sallied forthinto those of the enemy, wh
An artist in Italy . day after the festival ofSt. Catherine, the representatives of one of the contradeparade the streets in fifteenth-century costume, playingmusical instruments—the drum far excellence—andgoing through wonderful evolutions with their Comparsa della Contrada della Tartucca—that is,the representation of the ward of the Tortoise—wasout on parade during the first Sunday after my contrada was easily localised by the banners withtheir emblem displayed at every street corner. TheComparsa having paraded its own district sallied forthinto those of the enemy, where it was received insilence, except for a few criticisms as to the get-up ofsome of its members. They were a fine set of fellows,dressed in blue doublets, the sleeves slashed with yellow,and wearing particoloured hose; the Capitano wasmounted and wearing a steel breastplate and they came to cross-roads they stopped toallow the Alfieri to do their banner-play. The flags 132 THE PALIO OF SIENA. THE PALIO OF SIENA are fixed on staves some ten feet long ; these they waveabout, passing them under their legs, round theirbacks, high up over their heads, and finally lance themup a great height and catch them in their fall. Thewhole thing is done very gracefully, the movementsof the two men keeping time. Signs of the coming race were also visible in theCampo. The stone-paved roadway round the enclosurewas being covered with a deep layer of sand, andstaging was being fixed up in front of each house ;a palisade was also placed right round the centre ofthe Piazza, thus defining the racecourse. Now comes the extraordinary side of the wholeaffair : not one of the contrade owns its horse, butthey all share in the hiring of the total number aboutto compete, which is generally a dozen, as all thecontrade do not run a horse in every race. Neither dothe jockeys belong to the wards which employ them,but are countrymen who train more or less for thepurpose, and are ignoran
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1913
