Siena: contrade and a party we missed

There was a party going on in this Piazzo del Mercato (Market Square) our first evening in Siena. (The photo was taken the next day from halfway up our Torre del Mangia climb.) We're not sure what they were celebrating, but all the decorations pointed to its being a party for the Onda (Wave) contrada. 

Siena's contrade are its neighborhoods, and their significance isn't just territorial. Each has their own colors, mascot, and traditions. Here are the Onda flags that mark their territory and the street leading off Il Campo to the party we saw...

You can see all of the imaginative mascots, colors, mottos, and all kinds of other contrade information, by following the link above. But I also made a collection of photos whenever I noticed a new contrada border symbol as we strolled around Siena; thanks again to Rick Steves' Florence and Tuscany guidebook for alerting me to this fun local cultural tidbit. It's great to see the variety of mascots—from the heroic to the whimsical to the weird...

Aquila (eagle) contrada

Civetta (owl) contrada

Leocorno (unicorn) contrada

Torre (tower, not elephant) contrada

The contrade serve as neighborhood associations and community centers, as we discovered during our Siena strolls. We came across two of these "clubhouses." One was in the Giraffa (giraffe, one of the weird ones!) contrada...

I really like their light fixtures, don't you?!

Here's a Giraffa border tile:

On our way from the Duomo to San Domenico, we came across the community center for the Selva (forest) contrada, and had the temerity to actually step inside, we were so curious to learn more about this local phenomenon...

On the floor below, it looked like some folks were setting up for some sort of community event. And here's a Selva border tile:

The big event for the contrade each year, when one gets bragging rights over all the others, is the Palio horserace. Which we—unfortunately, or, probably, fortunately—missed. It's a huge deal around here, and we wouldn't have been able to get a hotel room, or a table at any restaurant, had we happened to Siena on one of their race days.

You can see a picture of the race at the bottom of this post. What happens is that they turn Il Campo—yes, the whole enormous "square"—into a horse track! It must be crazy! Rick Steves has a video that can give you some idea of the scale of the thing. And Wikipedia gives more facts and history.

Much as it would be fun to see all the contrade parading in their colors, and to toast the victors when the race is done, I think we were lucky to be able to see Siena on a non-Palio day.