The Palio of Siena
Twice each year Siena the "Palio" takes place. This traditional festival is a chance for the people to support their zone or "quartiere" and have old scores settled in fantastic horse race that happens in the centre of town. The main cobbled piazza is covered in sand and the whole centre is transformed into a stadium like racetrack with people filling the centre of the piazza with others hanging from the windows in support of the rider representing their quartiere of the city. The race starts with the horses runing around the the track. What's unique is that it does not matter if the rider comes off the horse during the race; it's the first horse over the line, with or without the rider, that wins the prize. After the race has finished there are parades of victory through the streets with flag wavers and music through to the next day. Not to be missed.
Getting to Siena
There's a bus services that runs from next to the main train station in Florence down to Siena. The bus line that operates is called SITA. It is generally preferable to the main train line which takes a long time (up to an hour and a half).
