Dinner with the Locals...

When we were at Zest, the British waiter mentioned that his neighborhood was hosting a dinner in the streets to celebrate winning the il Palio, a horse race dating back to 1656. Two weeks earlier, 10 riders from 17 of the contradas (districts of Siena), rode bareback around the  main square of Siena 3 times in the 90-second dangerous race in front of huge crowds.

It might be hard to tell in this photo, but this woman is sucking on a pacifier. The theory is if your contrada wins il Palio and you manage to touch the jockey, that it is like being reborn.

For €10 each, we were able to join in for the dinner. This was clearly not the usual tourist destination. Dinner was served family-style with large bowls of pasta bolognese, platters of burgers and potatoes, and bottles of wine passed around. Despite the fact that we couldn’t communicate with anyone around us and I had potatoes and bread for dinner, this was definitely one of the most memorable things we did all week.

Each contrada has its own flag; the winner was Onda (wave) with a symbol of the dolphin on its flag and lights. As the winner, their flag was hung all over the city.