This place is magihal. I say magihal
behause that is how everyone pronounces their “c” sounds in
Tushany. They are such a beautiful, intelligent, warm people.
I learned more about these 17 contrade
this week: this rivalry is serious business. At times two different
neighborhoods will line up across from one another, with the police
and the ambulance on hand, and when someone yells “go” they run
at each other, fistfight for a minute or less, and then dissipate
quickly. To join a contrada, you pay a fee and then you are (literally) baptized
into the contrada. The only rules during the horse race are that you
can't hit another player's horse. It's the horse that wins, even if
the fantino (rider) falls off. This has been going on for
centuries. There is always some nasty politics, with riders getting
paid by both their own contrada as well as receiving an under the
table sum of cash from a rival so that they will lose. But if you are
caught betraying your contrada, you are publicly shamed and someone will likely beat you up
if they catch you on the street.
Romeo and Juliet? They really lived! We
were told yesterday that they were originally from Siena. Someone
wrote down the story, and Shakespeare read it and embellished it, with
the city of Verona as the main stage because he knew that city
better. But Romeo and Juliet were from different contrade, and that
is why their families hated each other so much.
We went to see the leaning tower of
Pisa yesterday. It REALLY leans! It is hard to walk up the stairs
because you lean one way and then the other, but it is so beautiful
up top. We talked to a Napolitana couple who had been married for 25
years on the train ride home. We asked them what the secret to their
successful marriage was. They answered, “Litigare sempre. Poi
chiedere scusa.” “Fight all the time. Then make up afterwards.”
They said as long as you are fighting, you are communicating
sincerely. They said make war during the daytime, then make peace
during the nighttime. :) I love Italians.
We learned about Galileo, who grew up
in Pisa and allegedly dropped metal balls from the top of the tower
to prove that two metal balls of different masses will fall with the
same acceleration. Pretty neat to think that everyone wearing a
wristwatch can thank him for his studies.
Il Colosseo
Statue of a vestal virgin. Heads were often removed from statues because they were easiest to carry
They brought me this as a special surprise when I declined meat
Josh got bad sunburn and his head swelled
Fontana dei quattro fiumi by Bernini
This cute old couple were dancing to gypsy accordion music near St. Francis' basilica in Assissi
Assissi
The mountains of Umbria
Assissi
:) We also saw one that said, "Please don't sit on the choir"
Sienna
The world's first local city hall
Inside the leaning tower of Pisa. The metal pole is perfectly vertical. Trippy!
As we toured the neighborhood of the Tortuca (Turtle) today
