This week we started school and upon first arriving in the city of Siena I noticed intricate looking lamps down every street and down the street my apartment was on there were flags every ten feet for as far as I could see. They were beautiful with lots of bright colors and had what looked like a horse on the flags. During the week I had the opportunity to go on several tours with my school and learn about the history of the city. I wanted to know more about the variety of flags I saw around the city and the flags down the street. The coordinator of my school is from Siena so I also talked to her about it and she, as well as the tours, informed me that they were flags and symbols representing sections of the city. The city is divided up into 17 sections called contrade. Each contrada has a “mascot” that represents their section (mine happens to be the leocorno, or unicorn) and each contrada has a rival, except for two that are supposed to be rivals, but have now formed a friendship. Twice a year these contrade race horses around the Piazza del Camp, which is similar to a large plaza in the city, the horse race is called the Palio. The Palio happens in July and August and I will be able to attend the Palio di Siena on July 2^nd. An Italian is born into their contrada based on where their family lives and it forever becomes a part of them, their culture, and passed down tradition. Attached are some photos I have taken from around the city to show you the different lamps and the unicorn contrada’s flag.

Leocorno (Unicorn) contrada

Onda (Wave) contrada

Bruco (Caterpillar) contrada