Siena is a city made up of 17 contradas ( wards, quarters, communes). Historically, each of these contradas originated from the different garrisons of the army of Siena who fought the nearby army of Florence. In one of pakdokter's readings, pakdokter remembers ( if it was not incorrect) that the Palio Festival is also a celebration of the victory of the Sienese army against the Florentine forces 500 years ago or so ....
However only 10 contradas are selected to race in the Palio ( probably due to the size limitation of the piazza) and as such a 'balloting' has to be done to select the 10. The remaining 7 which failed to be selected will be allowed to race in the second Palio held in August race with the remaining 3 also selected by another ballot.
Pakdokter spent the whole morning walking through most of the contradas within the walled city of Siena.
Each of the contradas appear to have a common square or piazza around which will be located the contrada's church, town hall, a museum featuring artefacts and pictorials showcasing the history of the contradas. A playground in the centre of the square appear to be a popular gathering ground of the families of the contradas
And the banquets and dinners to raise funds for the Palio were also held in the squares...
Pakdokter's walk through the contradas enabled the following pictures to be captured below. Each of the contradas was colourfully decorated with their own flags on their buildings and the flags also served as scarves adorned on the heads or shoulders of the gentlemen and ladies of the contradas.
the city's town hall had all the contradas flags being displayed..
practising the parade at one of the contradas..
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