As much as I love Florence; being that it became my 'home away from home'; it was very exciting to venture to the 'mountains' of Italy and explore Siena. It was an exciting change of pace focusing on Florence's rivals during the Middle ages; a city so vastly different than Florence in terms of structure socially, politically, economically and artistically.
We were fortunate to be in Siena on the day of an event that occurs only once a year: the day that celebrates the district of the dragon. You see, Siena is still living under the confinement of tension between its 17 districts that were established during the Middle ages as an effort of establishing their new found democracy. Each district devotes 1 day a year to celebrate and glorify their district. This is done by means of a parade fully lavished with hand made drums, uniforms and flags displaying the districts color and symbol. As we stood in the square next to which the town hall resides we heard loud beats of drums as the parade of many men rolled down the street.
In the afternoon we focused on Jewish Siena and were fortunate to learn about the ghetto of Siena that lasted until the 18th century (and back in its day was referred to as "the new Jerusalem")and tour the synagogue of Siena. It was an amazing change just coming out of shabbat where we prayed 3 times in the synagogue of Florence: a glorious massive synagogue; and then coming just a day later to the synagogue of Siena: a more modest synagogue. Sadly, there isn't much of a Jewish kehilla (religious community) that remains in Siena. Siena has merged together with the Florence's Jewish community and services continue of holidays by means of importing other Jews from around the world.
We were fortunate to be in Siena on the day of an event that occurs only once a year: the day that celebrates the district of the dragon. You see, Siena is still living under the confinement of tension between its 17 districts that were established during the Middle ages as an effort of establishing their new found democracy. Each district devotes 1 day a year to celebrate and glorify their district. This is done by means of a parade fully lavished with hand made drums, uniforms and flags displaying the districts color and symbol. As we stood in the square next to which the town hall resides we heard loud beats of drums as the parade of many men rolled down the street.
In the afternoon we focused on Jewish Siena and were fortunate to learn about the ghetto of Siena that lasted until the 18th century (and back in its day was referred to as "the new Jerusalem")and tour the synagogue of Siena. It was an amazing change just coming out of shabbat where we prayed 3 times in the synagogue of Florence: a glorious massive synagogue; and then coming just a day later to the synagogue of Siena: a more modest synagogue. Sadly, there isn't much of a Jewish kehilla (religious community) that remains in Siena. Siena has merged together with the Florence's Jewish community and services continue of holidays by means of importing other Jews from around the world.
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