No battles are as fiercely and proudly remembered as this one. Siena had no chance of winning against the Florentines and their allies, who outnumbered them (and their negligible supporters) by as many as three to one. But the Sienese had a secret weapon: the support of the Virgin Mary. Praying to her the night before in the Duomo, they promised to dedicate their city to her should she grant them victory. She did! Siena triumphed in a battle that Dante deemed so bloody it “stained the stream of the Arbia red” (Inferno X, 85-86). Let’s call that poetic license from a disgruntled Florentine, but the battle lives on in both glory and infamy, and of course we must celebrate it every year. Keep an ear out for the drums, then admire the colours of the 17 Contrade as each will send one tamburino (drummer) and two alfieri (flag wavers) to the Duomo for a special mass to once again thank the Virgin Mary for her protection.*
*Spoiler alert: Her good will ran out in 1555 when Siena had to surrender to Charles V and the Spanish troops and then fell under the control of the Medici of Florence. But it was good whilst it lasted! However, Siena is, and will always be, the City of the Virgin.
