The actual race took a couple of minutes, but the amount of preparation and anticipation took weeks.
Before the race, there were trial runs, communal feasts and even a band performance the night before. Colourful flags hung proudly from the old buildings in the historical centre.
August 16 was a big day for the Senesi (people of Siena). Hours before the race there were parades along the streets, and some roads were also blocked.
Deimante, Kaisa and I went to Il Campo at 3 pm to get a place that could give us a good view. Even our teacher said we were mad.
By the time we were many others have already arrived. The heat was unbearable. Kaisa used her bolero to cover her head. Deimante took out her umbrella to shelter us. The entire scallop shaped piazza of Il Campo was swarmed with people – Italians, Senesi, and tourists – all craning our neck to catch a glimpse of the pomp and pageantry of this medieval tradition that has its origin dating as far back as the 12th century.
All 10 of the 17 contrada (district) of Siena participating in the race paraded and performed with their flags in full medieval regalia. The wigs and costumes were so thick and heavy I wondered how the poor participants managed to endure marching in the heat wearing them. Some of us sat on the floor, defeated by the heat, some squatted, but many stood through out the entire event. I alternated between sitting, squatting and standing. One Italian guy standing next to me gave me a nudge out of the blue and said kindly, ‘’move your legs so that you won’t be tired.’’ Deimante drank up almost the entire 1.5 litres of ice water that she bought at the piazza. I tried not to drink too much as we were all trapped inside the square and it was impossible to move out to find a toilet.
The positioning/ order of the horses was determined by drawing lots. There was a sudden silence as someone read aloud the order of the horses just before the scheduled start of the race.
The race was supposed to start at 7.30 pm. But it was only after 8.30 pm that it started. The horses were agitated and it was near impossible to get all 10 of them in place. Each time the last one barely managed to stand in line the crowd cheered, or hissed, or boo-ed, depending on how many times the horse ‘’rebelled’’, and all 10 horses started to move away from the start line and the whole painful process of lining them in order began.
This is not the professional race you see at racing or betting clubs. The jockeys were assigned the horses only 3 days before the race, again, by drawing lots. I was told that for some of the horses, it was their first time in such a race! There was no proper ‘’gate’’ to hold the horses in place at the start point before the gun fires its shot to signal the start.
In fact, there were actually 3 false starts – when all horses seemed to be lined up and about to start, in a split second one would bolt away in the other direction, the gun shot would be fired (not realizing the rebel horse’s bolt), leaving the rest running the whole course. Our teacher told us the next day that the final race actually didn’t have a ‘’valid’’ start, as one of the horses actually didn’t start at the same time. But the officials decided to declare the race valid, otherwise the horses would be tired, and it was getting late. In fact, in this race, one of the jockeys fell off and the horse ran its own race.
It turned out that ‘’la nonna’’ (grandma) has won – the contrada called Civetta (Civet). They call it la nonna because it has not won for the past 30 years.
After the race, there was pandemonium, and an explosion of emotions and euphoria. Some people from a contrada that did not win actually were in tears or even violent, removing flags from buildings.
We basically tried to get out of the square by shuffling, and being shoved, by the crowd. If this was Singapore, I am sure the authorities would have used cordons and other devices to direct traffic, and systematically mapped out designated routes for designated groups of people. But hey, this is Italy, the chaos is part of the priceless experience!
We decided to go straight home, to avoid being trapped in the congested streets with emotional or violent Senesi. Besides, we were dog-tired, after 5 hours of wait under the merciless sun.
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