Il Palio / Firenze

This past week was the Palio, Siena's horse race in the Piazza del Campo, the main square in the center of town.  It was incredible - there must have been 50,000 people, probably more, crammed into the Piazza last Saturday to see the race.  There was a procession beforehand, like a parade, and each contrada was represented with drummers, horsemen, flags, knights, and trumpets.  It was like something straight out of medieval times.  Really cool.  Really long, but still cool.

Then after the procession was the race itself.  I've never seen anything like it.  I took a lot of cool pictures, but they were with someone else's camera so as soon as I get them I'll post them.

This is from one of the prove, the four days of test races before the real Palio.  

Also from the prove.  The real Palio is like this on steroids.  See how the Piazza is packed, and you can only see less than half of the whole crowd.  Plus, this wasn't even the day of the real race. 

After the prove, each competing contrada walks a lap around the Palio with their horse.

Also, a week or so ago we went to Firenze (Florence) as a class.  Like everything else here, it was incredible.  Saw the Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, and the Uffizi.  Didn't have time to see the David, but I'm planning on going back sometime in the next week or so so I can see the David and see the inside of the Duomo (the line was pretty long last time).  Here's some Florence pictures:

Il Duomo

Florentine architecture

The Birth of Venus, at the Uffizi Gallery

the Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio

This weekend we're going to Rome, we'll see the Coliseum, the Borghese, the Vatican, and a few other things.

Ci vediamo,
Rhett