Siena, 2017

I had the most wonderful time discovering this city and making some new Italian friends. I also spent a day photographing the crowds gathering for the last pre-Palio races in the Piazza del Campo.

I’d never experienced an event like it: so all-encompassing for the community, so suffused with history and tradition without being the least moribund, and so incredibly good-natured – even when people became crammed together into the little square long before there was anything to watch.

We English have our local events too. I grew up mostly in a country village that revolved around them. But the annual churn of jumble sales, coconut shys (shies?) and weak tea from thick green china cups doesn’t begin to compare to the raucous, jovial, unified conviviality I discovered in Siena.

On the evening before the final race, I had the honour of being invited to one of the contrada parties. The contrade are the 17 districts of Siena, each of which has a horse in the Palio, and each of which hosts its own events leading up to the race itself. (Only the winner, I was told, has any sort of party on the day itself – and it’s quite a party.)

So it was that I found myself joining a huge al fresco dinner on trestle tables laid out in the streets and squares in front of the high façcade of a local church, among luxuriant green trees and a sky glowing with evening. The youngsters dashed about serving as waiters, while we grown-ups sat with pasta and red wine, chatting and laughing. I don’t think I’ve ever been among friendlier people, or felt more grateful.