fava beans and a nice chianti

On Wednesday, we visited one of the 17 Contrade of Siena. A "contrada" in its most basic form is an Italian subdivision, kind of like neighborhoods in America. However, the contrade of Siena are legendary. The entire city is divided into 17 contrade, and only true Sienese whose families go back centuries are allowed membership.

The contrade were originally created as a means of defending Siena against other city-states, like Florence, from invasion during the Middle Ages. Now, however, they're more symbolic. Each contrada has its own church, mascot, flag, colors, and traditions, the most important of which is the horse race that occurs each year in the main Piazza against all other horses. This horse race, called the Palio, is a catalyst for civic pride throughout the year for its members.

The churches for the contrade are usually closed off to the public, but we were allowed inside the church of the Onda Contrada, whose mascot is a dolphin. The church was beautiful, and downstairs was a museum that contained all of the titles won at each Palio by the Onda, dating back hundreds of years. Even today, the jockeys wear traditional garb, and the jockeys are selected and trained from childhood to be able to ride. In the Middle Ages, it wasn't uncommon for a losing jockey to be killed by his contrada, but we were assured that today, losing jockeys are merely punched a few times in the face...

The following day, we went to a wine tasting in the Chianti region. It was so fun! We also got a tour of the winery, which happened to be in a beautiful, picture-perfect villa. The wine that we tasted sells for about $200 in the States, but was only about 12 euro at the winery so of course I had to buy a bottle.

For anybody who is thinking of traveling to Italy, and to Tuscany in particular: BRING DRAMAMINE. In fact, go a step further and also buy yourself those motion sickness prevention bracelets. The roads in this area are ridiculous and caused every single person on the bus to become car sick, even those who boasted of being able to complete crossword puzzles during roadtrips. Fortunately, a friend gave me some dramamine, but even still, it was an awful ride there and back for everyone, especially with wine in our systems.

Apologies for the poor writing...I'm really tired!