Skip to main content

SUPPORT SIENA 2019 DURING MAGENTA DAY ON OCTOBER 3, 2014


I'm busy helping prepare our Tuscan village's Festa dell'Uva, the harvest festival 2014. But if I wasn't turning moldy medieval cellars into improvised bars stacked with Montecucco wine I'd be giving a hand in Siena today.

Not just Palio horses and Renaissance art.
Join Siena's Magenta Day!



 MAGENTA DAY: FRIDAY OCTOBER 3, 2014

 If you explore the Tuscan city today skip Duccio, Pinturicchio and the cathedral for a change and join some contemporary pink frenzy instead. From 10 am the Magenta Day takes over Siena's town center and no matter whether you're a local, an American tourist or one of the refugees who arrived this summer - everybody is invited to join in. Participate and experience for yourself how contemporary culture and innovation are - at last! - back in town. Siena is competing to become European Capital of Culture in 2019 - and judging from today's program SIENA 2019 is doing one hell of a job!

 Starting off with a children's event at 10 am in the kids' section of the Santa Maria della Scala museum, a flash mob follows in piazza Gramsci, whilst celebrations obviously also have to take place in via Magenta (magenta road), which will be turned into a Siena 2019 hot spot from 4 pm. At the same time a human chain will form to connect Porta Camollia to Porta Romana along the former pilgrims' and merchant roads that brought Siena to fame and wealth in the Middle Ages. Express your support for Siena's bid to become ECoC2019 by linking arms with whoever is next to you. 

 If you love a good old treasure hunt visit piazza Salimbeni from 5 to 5.30pm. You'll be supplied with indications of ten locations in Siena. Find them and take a pic of each on your smart phone or camera before making your way back to piazza Salimbeni. The first ten people or groups of city explorers, who have found the right locations will receive a Siena2019 kit. 

 After all the running around enjoy a glass of Tuscan artisan beer at stylish birreria Diana during the inauguration of a photo exhibition about Siena and its people. Then it's time to join the final event (street art and live music), which couldn't but happen in piazza del Campo. For more info check the Siena 2019 website or follow the committee's facebook page. 

 I have to go now and unload more cases of wine - but once you've finished giving a hand in Siena come and join us over the weekend for some partying in the Maremma. My Tuscan village is no runner up for ECoC 2019, but we'll have a good time nevertheless. And if you think our festival is the typical fake medieval fare you better watch this: Wine Harvest Festival in Cingiano. 
Labels:
Location: Roman Gate, Via Roma, 53100 Siena Siena, Italy

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...
Read on...»

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  ...
Read on...»

NINA ZILLI CONCERT IN PIAZZA DEL CAMPO

Whatever the exact financial situation of the city of Siena and its famous nearly broke bank - the fact that free concerts are back on Piazza del Campo is a promising sign! In the summer of 2012 ,   Patti Smith  sang 'People have the Power' on Piazza del Campo. The song and her fabulous concert in Siena feature in the book soundtrack - and hopefully also in the future film adaptation - of my memoir  Across the Big Blue Sea .  But while a spectacular full moon rose behind Torre del Mangia the night of Patti's concert, the city itself had just started its descent into a longlasting financial nightmare. The Monte dei Paschi bank -  founded in  1472 it is the world's oldest continually operating bank -  turned from  prodigy into Italy's problem child (more about this here ), and with the bank's debacle, the free concerts on Piazza del Campo had lost their main sponsor.  Nina may not be a world-star, but she's definitely one of th...
Read on...»