Buon Natale !

 

A rather belated Christmas greeting from Siena!

My dear friends Jeremiah and David have joined me for Christmas, as well as the lovely Pia, who was with me on my very first trip to Mali at Christmas/New Year 2005-6 when  I decided to start someting in Djenne. It feels appropriate and good that these friends should be with me now, for my first Christmas in Siena!

Christmas eve started  in the earliest hour with a brisk walk in the rain  down the precipitous Via del Comune to Porta Ovile, where one finds a lorry with a charming fisherman who comes up to Siena from Castiglione della Pescaia most mornings. And this morning was of course an important one, since all Italians have to eat fish for the Cena di Virgilio, or the dinner of the 7 Fishes, before going off to Midnight Mass.  I think we managed at least ten types... Below I am tackling the Branzino.
                                              

    Jeremiah was in charge of the prawns and aioli:

                                       

    and Satomi, my lovely Japanese friend from the language school brought sushi!

                            

 

 Pia, left above, brought a luxury Panettoni and the two of us, being Swedes, managed to find Walt Disney's Christmas cartoons at three in the afternoon- this is a Swedish tradition so entrenched that it equals Santa Lucia and Midsummer celebrations, and could only equal the Queen's Christmas Speech for the English. No self respecting, patriotic Swede would ever go with out this hour long medley of  treasures like Santa's Christmas factory, Snow white, Cinderella and here below, Lady and the Tramp at the Napoli restaurant, something that is also much loved by the Italians:

I managed to take time out of the kitchen long enough to show Jeremiah and Pia my new flat, where the owners, who  still live there until formalities are completed, were kind enough to let me show them around- we walked through a  rain sodden Siena, beautiful in the low mist, past the Campo and up to Casato di Sopra in 'my' Onda district: 

                                               

                                   

                                 

  Finally, we made midnight mass in the sumptuous Siena Cathedral: 

Christmas Day we played all those games...Charades of course... The Novel Game... and Botticelli... 

and tomorrow at 3.30 am I will pull my little trolley bag down the Via Pantaneto and up the via di Citta and down the Via Montanini to the bus station to board to bus to Roma.

 I am off to Minnesota: The coldest place in the whole of the US for New Year!

 More about this soon!....

All is well in a wintry Siena

  Although that opening reminds me of that -probably apocryphal- headline: 'Small Earthquake in Peru. Not many dead'. 

But the fact is that today I have not been angry at all. It has been a good day. 

It strikes me it was easier to write in Djenne: Africa was so full of extreme experiences that having just a nice, ordinary, day was always out of the question. Extraordinary events kept tumbling over one. It did suit me, although it was exhausting. But here I am, in beautiful Italy which has a reputation amongst other European nations for being charmingly chaotic- believe me, on the Richter scale of Chaos it  barely registers a tremor...bureaucratic, yes, but it seems to work and I am still, after spending twelve years in Mali, in awe of buses that arrive on time even if there is only one person on them; or, for instance, of having received a letter here with an invitation to a give a blood test in a national drive to prevent bowel cancer. How did they even find me?? Amazing. So, here I am, in Siena, in a well ordered, functioning Europe, (yes- notwithstanding the continual Covid threat, in comparison it IS!) and I  continue  being amazed.

The sun keeps shining in Siena and the students are out in force having passed their finals, wearing their laurel wreaths and celebrating on the Campo with friends and family- the narrow streets are echoing with a song celebrating the new Dottores and Dottoressas. There seemed  to be an awful lot of them I used to  think- until someone explained that a Dottore here is not someone with a Phd, but someone who has a passed their  first degree. And here are some happy successful candidates this afternoon:

                      

Siena has  a very ancient and venerable University  of course, and the final exams seem to be spread throughout the year, if one is to judge from the frequent celebrations.

And last night, being a good Swede, I felt I ought to take part in some sort of Santa Lucia celebration. This is the only saint we kept in Sweden after we became Lutheran- she, the harbinger of light, was too important a saint to throw out... we felt we still needed her when the chill winter creeps up on us and the winter solstice looms...

So, I walked across town  to the tiny beautiful little church of Santa Lucia, a Baroque pearl, were most of Siena seemed to be thronging outside- as much for the Christmas sweet market, which seemed to stretch for miles,  as for the mass, which was officiated yet again by that famous Cardinal Lejudice , and much over subscribed. I only managed to get in before they decided to bar the way. People are being good about wearing masks here- including the clergy, which makes it even more difficult for me to understand ... 

Siena feels alive with Christmas spirit- everyone is out shopping and I cannot really get very serious about anything apart from planning Christmas when Jeremiah, Davide and Pia are coming! 

 It is nice to be so childish that I am still mad about Christmas!

The Moral of this story ...

I am sixty-six years old.

There is no getting away from it.  

But I had not realized it quite- everything feels just the same as it always has. But occasionally something happens to point out to me that I am no longer middle aged- I am actually considered ‘elderly’. There has of course been my ‘smart’ TV in London which was hooked up to Amazon and Netflix and various other bodies that informed it, somehow, of the fact that I was born in 1955. Therefore it used to roll the most annoying adverts all the time: ‘Have you thought about your Will?’; ‘This is a good time to plan your Cremation’; ‘Just check out this marvellous contraption for getting into the bath’; Special price on Stannah chairlifts- hurry!’ And Facebook too kept popping up with ads about incontinence panties…but that apparently starts for women who are only fifty. I had been too shy to mention being solicited about incontinence relief, (let me just clarify I am thankfully  not in need of it)  so was very glad when a very glamorous friend of mine aged 52 ‘spoke out’ about getting the same treatment. (Yes, yes, I know that if you read this and you are under forty, you will think that being fifty is the end of the world- but believe me- life  is sometimes only starting then...)Nevertheless, although this was all faintly annoying, it was endurable. Until something happened tonight that made me lose all composure.

I had been on a free guided tour of Siena- to do with Dante yet again- this time rather specialized: it concerned Dante’s Siena connections – the great families of Siena that he knew. The tour was intended for Italians, and particularly the Sienese. I noticed a rather old woman who was on her own, just like me, and she seemed to be enjoying the tour. The excellent guide was ‘interrupted’ three times during our progress through a freezing Siena- a great local poet/rapper/actor  gave  some rather idiosyncratic interpretations of certain passages in Dante to everyone’s delight:

 And this evening I had booked a ticket for a performance at the Teatro dei Rinnovati, which is situated in the Palazzo Pubblico. It was a dance performance ‘Les Nuits Barbares’ choreographed by Herve Koubi to traditional Algerian  music as well as  Mozart, Faure, and Wagner. This was quite a treat and I had been looking forward to it. When I arrived I was surprised that I kept being ushered to some side stairs that led me higher and higher, until I ended up in the forth and last circle, far off to one side. I looked down and noticed  that there was plenty of space left in much better positions. Then I looked at who else was sitting on my level, and realized that the only one on the whole level sharing this dismal position was the old woman I had noticed from the Dante tour! I had bought the best ticket available, but, always with an eye for a bargain, I had claimed the over sixty-five discount of 3 euros, just like I expect the lady from the tour had done. This had clearly been a mistake- two old women arriving separately on their own- we were put away as far as possible!  I saw red, and stomped out, just as it was about to start.  I was immediately intercepted by one of the ushers who attempted to calm me down. I am quite proud of the fact that I managed to be very angry all in Italian, while I was led down to the ticket office. There I continued to splutter venom in what must have been quite comprehensible Italian for the ticket office staff were most apologetic and asked me if I had booked online- as if that was a mistake?- I was finally led to one of the last places in one of the first rows- and meanwhile I had also been able to ‘rescue’ the other ‘old lady’ from outer space : ‘e l’altra povera vecchia signora, voi la lacherete li, tutta sola? Maledizone!’Once installed, I noticed with some gratification that the lady had also  been moved to a seat a few pews away…!

It took me a certain amount of time to calm down but the spectacle was good enough to soothe me: thirty beautiful male dancers performing something between acrobatics, break-dancing and ballet conjuring up tribal scenes that seemed to belong more closely further south on the African continent than  Algeria, whose  music was sometimes intertwined with Mozart’s or Faure’s Requiems. It all worked, and as I left I managed a little smile to the lady in the ticket office who I had insulted previously.

The moral of this story: NEVER be stingy enough to try to save three euros because you are over sixty-five!- at least not if you are a woman…

 

                                      

Quindi Uscimmo a Riveder le Stelle

More Dante inspiration in Siena: The words that hang above Piazza Tolomei are those taken from the end of Inferno: 'and thence we issued forth to see once more the stars...' a saying used here to express the end of great tribulation- let's hope this optimism is justified. The Mayor Luigi De Mossi, accompanied by Cardinal Lojudice and other Siena grandees  switched on the Christmas lights in time to celebrate  the Feast of the Immaculata Concezione which took place yesterday. It is a public holiday here, and  Siena's streets were invaded by happy Christmas shoppers. 

Other celebrations of the Immaculata took the shape of  concerts- the opera loving Senese have been singing away throughout this period of tribulation, and last night the amateur operatic society showed their mettle at the Dante Alighieri Language School, which is also used for diverse other activities. Here we have a young Leporello who gave a credible rendition of  'Notte e giorno faticar.'

And below the rest of the Operatic  society. They are a very democratic lot, and they give equal importance to those who cannot sing as to those that can. The lady in the centre in black was allowed to start the concert with 'E Strano! E Strano!' from La Traviata. This can  safely be described as a mistake. She would have made a good understudy for Florence Foster Jenkins. But it did improve, and the Lady in Red did a very good, smouldering rendition of  La Habanera, whilst slinking around the audience, straightening ties and ruffling hair most seductively- as a final flourish she sat down on the lap of an unsuspecting chap who looked absolutely terrified and unfortunately did not live up to expectations- he was of course supposed to do something exciting such as kissing her... oh well. It was all huge fun! 

And in the local caff' where we have our morning break at the language course, they have displayed all the Christmas goodies for sale- they make their own Ricciarelli and Panforte, those delicious Senese sweets. 

As far as Italian Christmas food is concerned I am not quite sure I understand it- they seem to eat only  fish on Christmas Eve...Hmm. I have guests of course and will have to get my head around this Presto!

December Cheer

Siena gave  a spectacular welcome to my friend Sanjay who arrived last Wednesday afternoon, straight into the celebration for one of the patron saints of the city, La Festa del Sant'Ansano. All the 17 Contrade of Siena were out in force with their alfieri and tamburini, as they made their stately progress between the Piazza del Campo and the Duomo, where a great Mass was held by Cardinal Augusto Paolo Lojudici ( apparently a bright light and one being tipped as one day a possible successor to Pope Francis)  

  . 

This  was an unexpected opportunity to see the interior of the Duomo ablaze with all the pomp and circumstance provided by  20 prelates in red cassocks and the entirety of Siena's contrade with costumes and banners aloft! 

                                     

                but we escaped nevertheless... and  ended up in the lovely Osteria le Logge close by the Campo which was perfect for the oenophile Sanjay who was extravagant enough to order something I'd never heard of before,  a 'Super Tuscan": a wine called Guado al Tasso, 2018. A new, lovely  experience for me, who is normally happy to drink a jolly house Chianti...

                                   

Two fine days showing Sanjay the glories of Siena were followed by this weekend's Christmas Market in the Piazza del Campo. Everyone was obliged to wear a mask but it did not noticeably dampen the spirits of the  Sienese who were happy to be able to  enjoy once more their Christmas market which was closed last year: