A highlight of our trip will be a day in Siena, about 2 hours northwest of Cortona. In the morning we’ll visit the museums and the duomo (the cathedrale di Santa Maria) to see works of the late medieval period and early renaissance by artists Duccio, Simone Martini, the Lorenzetti brothers, and other master of the Sienese school. In the afternoon we’ll meet up with Mauro Faleri and Elettra Paresi from the The Saena Julia Italian Language School in Siena who will share with us the history and traditions of the Palio di Siena, a major horse race in the main piazza of Siena, the Piazza del Campo, that has taken place since the medieval period. The city is composed of 17 contrade (neighborhoods or districts), ten of which front a horse and jockey to compete for the honor of winning the race for their contrada. We’ll tour one of the contrade with our hosts and have dinner all’aperto (outdoors) before heading home.
Palio, Giovanni Toscani, 15th c.
Landscape Painting in Italy 