Skip to main content

PATTI SMITH ROCKING SIENA'S PIAZZA DEL CAMPO


Siena keeps surprising me. The city of the Palio is going to host what seems to be the only free Patti Smith concert during her 2012 tour in Europe. The poetess of rock has already had gigs in Arezzo and Viareggio this July and August. That's quite an amount of Patti Smith concerts for one Tuscan summer. The reason for the abundance may be that the American singer/songwriter is supposed to own a house in Southern Tuscany's Maremma. Good on her! And lucky for us.

Patti Smith will play songs from her new album Banga, one of them dedicated to the premature death of Amy Winehouse (see video above). She will be accompanied by her  stellar band: Lenny Kaye (guitar/voice), Jay Dee Daugherty (percussion) Tony Shanahan (bass, piano and voice) and Jack Petruzzelli (guitar). 

PATTI SMITH, SIENA PIAZZA DEL CAMPO, Friday 31st of August 2012.
Concert starts at 9.30pm.

The concert is the final event of the 12th edition of the city's Città Aromatica Festival. The first three nights will take place on Siena's piazza San Francesco. On the 28th of August the festival is opened with the concert of the Italian band Teatro degli Orrori and the evening of Wednesday, 29th is dedicated to the performance of Compagnia Francesca Selva, an Italian dance company, which earned itself highest acclaim at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. On Thursday night (30th of August) Piazza San Francesco will see two indigenous rock bands on stage: Black Rain Theory and Blues Machines. 
Concerts on Piazza San Francesco start at 9.15pm. 

With Siena Parcheggi being main sponsor together with the crisis shaken Monte dei Paschi bank, not just events and concerts but also parking in town will be free during festival nights. Keep'em coming Siena! 

Not in town for Patti Smith's concert on piazza del Campo? The poetess of rock will be touring the US and Canada in November and December 2012 together with Neil Young and the Crazy Horse. Dates on her website, which also hosts some videos of her talking about the songs on the new album. 

Popular posts from this blog

BEST BIKE RENTAL IN SIENA

Villa Catignano: one of the many beautiful places an e-bike can get you to from Siena A few years ago, I interviewed an American writer , who during her month-long stay in Siena whizzed through the city on a bicycle. This was an unusual sight - vespas are the two-wheelers of choice in Siena's hilly town center, not bikes like in mostly flat Florence.  But the invention of e-bikes is about to change this. The city of Siena has installed an  electric bike sharing program which is functioning well. However, it's mostly aimed at locals and residents, as its set-up is a little complicated for visitors who only stay a couple of days in town. Hence, for tourists, the best bike rental options in Siena are with the privately owned shops which supply bycicles of every size and type for a day or two or an entire week.  Giulia from Julskitchen.com cycling through the hills of Siena Siena Bike Shop rents out racing bycicles, hybrid and e-bikes and is a great optio...

TASTE SIENA'S CHIANTI CLASSICO AT THE PREVIEW IN... FLORENCE (of all places!)

The province of Siena is a treasure trove for prestigious DOCG wines: from Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano to San Gimignano's white Vernaccia. Best known to the bigger audience and closest to the town center of Siena lay the hills of Chianti Classico. A wine not to be confused with the simpler Chianti (which can be produced in a much wider area of Tuscany). The black rooster (Gallo Nero) logo of the Chianti Classico links back to a much cited medieval legend involving the towns of Siena and Florence and their conquest of the hills dividing the territory between them.  The Chianti Classico vintner's association has overworked the design of the famous logo and will present it to the world on the 19th of February during the 2013 preview of the Chianti Classico collection (from the February 18-20 the Stazione Leopoldina in Florence).  A great logo for a great wine: Chianti Classico Collection in Florence

Ambrogio Lorenzetti's frescoes and paintings

From toddlers to octogenarians, when in Siena I schlepp everybody to see Ambrogio Lorenzetti's 'Buon Governo'. The long title of the painting is 'The Allegory of Good and Bad Government in the City and the Countryside' and it is exactly that - namely an accurate depiction of daily life in medieval Siena. The detailed and elegant fresco cycle is a rarity not just in regard to Lorenzetti's style and technique, but mainly due to its subject matter. In the 14th century, paintings and frescoes focus on stories and characters from the old and new testament and  not on the day-to-day tasks of builders and farmers.  Medieval Siena depicted on one of the walls of Ambrogio Lorenzetti's fresco cycle in the Palazzo Pubblico (©Wikipedia) And this is exactly why it's so much fun to spend some time in front of the fresco cycle in the  civic museum in Siena's Palazzo Pubblico. Whether its kids  - or meat lovers - looking for the famous Cinta Senese pig  ...