Viaggio in Italia
During the summer of 2022, I had the opportunity to travel all over Italy, both with my family and on my own. We visited the northern regions of Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, along with towns in the southern regions of Apulia, Basilicata, and Campania.
Rome and Florence are always necessities on the itinerary, even with the dramatic increase in the number of tourists. I take inspiration from photographers like Martin Parr and Massimo Vitali, attempting to balance fantasy and reality in the realm of mass tourism. I enjoy discovering the beauty of architectural mundanity and the physical locations we take for granted in our everyday lives. Even focusing on composition alone is a task worth exploring, proven by my biggest inspirations, American new wave photographers Joel Sternfeld and Stephen Shore. Color is something I've always had the urge to experiment with as well, using manmade and natural color to dictate the Italian landscape, and studying complementary color theory from the German Bauhaus teacher and artist, Josef Albers.
I had the pleasure of attending an Italian language program in Siena for three weeks. After studying Italian for the past two years at Sarah Lawrence, I felt that an immersive study abroad program would really help me improve my fluency. Not to mention I got to experience the culture and stay somewhere long enough to make it feel a little like home. One of the best moments of my stay in Siena was experiencing the Palio. Capturing the culture and atmosphere is quite difficult, but the event was a great challenge for me as a photographer. All Palio photos are below the main gallery on this page, along with more information about its history and my experience as a visitor.
Overall, one of the greatest adventures of my life so far. It gave me a wonderful opportunity to create, and to find my voice as an artist. I hope you enjoy my work!
To see the final formatted book I created and produced, click here or find it under Portfolios.
Il Mercato
Palio di Siena
Held on July 2nd and August 16th of every year, Palio has been the most culturally significant event in Siena since the Middle Ages. Dating back to 1633, the horse race has been held in the main square, the Piazza del Campo, in front of the Palazzo Pubblico, the city's seat of government. Ten of the seventeen Sienese neighborhoods, or contrade, are represented in each race, with the jockeys donning the traditional uniforms and colors representing their contrada. The race consists of three laps around the track, lasting a mere 90 seconds. The jockeys ("fantini") ride bareback, which gives way to falling off the horses, a common occurrence. The Palio can be very dangerous because of its unpredictability, and serious injury is not unheard of for the riders or the horses.
Traditions fill the days and weeks leading up to the Palio, with endless parades and drumming through the streets, along with communal banquet dinners of each contrada. There are six trial races in the few days before the official Palio, in order to give the riders and their horses a feel for the course and an opportunity to practice the two difficult turns in the course. The traditional "Song of the Verbena" can be heard all day and through the night, sung by members of the contrade. The Sienese people are born into their contrade and heavily identify with their region. Each contrada has its own flag and symbol, and are most easily identified by their colors. I stayed in the contrada della tartuca (turtle), but they weren't racing in the July 2nd Palio, as contrade are drawn randomly to participate, along with the random assignment of the eligible horses and which lanes they will race in. I decided to root for the contrada della chiocciola (snail), as it was the neighbor to tartuca. Rivalries are taken very seriously among the people of Siena, and fights can break out in the streets after the winner is announced.
The Palio in July is always dedicated to the Madonna di Provenzano, while the second Palio in August is for Santa Maria dell'Assunta, or Saint Mary of the Asssumption. No bets are placed, and are in fact forbidden among contrada members, but the winner of the race receives a hand painted banner of the Virgin Mary ("la madonna"), designed by a local artist. The banner is called the "drappellone" or "palio," the origin of the event's name. But more than receiving a religious banner, the winners receive respect and pride for their contrada, which is worth more than any prize that could be awarded.
A traditional parade known as the Corteo Storico begins the Palio around 5 pm, after massive crowds arrive in the center of the square, effectively being trapped inside the circular race track until the race concludes. Each contrada enters, waving flags and wearing historical costumes. The procession centers around the Carroccio, a large wagon pulled by four gigantic oxen and displaying the drappellone, or Palio banner. Once the parade has concluded, the horses enter with their jockeys one by one and begin to line up. Lining the horses up can sometimes take an hour or longer, as the adrenaline-filled horses have a tendency to not want to stay still or be crammed in between other feisty horses.
These pictures are of the Palio on Saturday, July 2, 2022, the first Palio to be held in three years since the COVID pandemic shut down most of the world. This particular Palio was unique because there was a total of five false starts, an unusually high number. In addition, by the time the true race started, four out of the ten horses and/or riders had pulled out due to injury, either during the false starts or during the trial runs in the days before, which left only six horses in the final. The chances of winning were greater for the remaining six, but many were devastated to see their contrada's horse walking off the course. In the end, the contrada del drago (dragon) took home the Palio victory.
