Italy. I think about it, write about it, and dream about it. All the time. Yet, my fantasy of retiring in the land of pasta and sunflowers doesn’t decrease with each visit. Every year, when it’s time for the family to decide where we will travel during the summer, Italy is at the top of the list. It is the standard by which we compare all other destinations. This past summer Italy won out again. We wanted to hit a few favorites before heading off to our ultimate destination of Switzerland and Germany. One of those favorites is Siena. Over the past 20 years, we have spent a fair amount of time in Siena. With kids we usually base ourselves at a nearby Tuscan farm and take day trips into the city. During our honeymoon, we spent 5 days right in the city.
I have always found Siena to be a very easy place to visit with kids, no matter what the age. It is just small enough to be manageable and just large enough to feel like an actual city. Toddlers love running around the big open square of the Piazza del Campo. Middle grade kids love climbing the 400 steps to the top of the 14th century bell tower. Teens love the freedom of wandering the ancient city’s narrow cobblestone streets. There is very little room for complaining with so much to do.
My Favorite Siena Activity
My favorite thing to do in Siena, however, is to create a Treasure Hunt. We are the family that tries to make a game out of every trip we take. When they were younger, no matter where we went, we would always start our day buying postcards from the gift shop. The kids would hold on to the postcards all day and search for the items on the cards. When they find the item they would get a “point”. If they found all the items on the postcards by the end of the day, they would get a treat – usually ice cream. Trying to engage the kids in this way makes the learning fun. In addition it helps them remember it better when they get older.
Siena is the perfect city for a treasure hunt that can entertain kids of all ages (adults too). Seventeen neighborhoods divide the city. A flag, an animal and a fountain marks each neighborhood or contrade. Every time we go to Siena we make a game of finding the 17 fountains in the city. Don’t expect to find all 17 in one day, though! In some cases they are well hidden and far flung. With younger kids, you can target a few of the more central fountains and with older kids, you can give them a little freedom to go out on their own.
The Contrade
There are 17 contrade or neighborhoods currently in Siena. This is reduced from the 54 contrade originally established in the Middle Ages. Each contrada acts like a small state within the city. It has its own chapel, its own museum, its own fountain and its own patron saint. A flag and an animal represents each one. In addition, a democratically elected Council governs each one.
Citizens are members of a contrada strictly by birth and it is to that contrada that they owe their first allegiance. Baptisms occur at the fountain of their own contrada for newborn babies. Important life events – birth, baptism, marriage, and death – are typically celebrated only within ones own contrada. In addition, residents are so loyal to their own contrada, that they rarely leave or move. Each contrada also has allies and adversaries.
The 17 contrade are the Eagle (Aquila), Caterpillar (Bruco), Snail (Chiocciola), Little Owl (Civetta), Dragon (Drago), Giraffe (Giraffa), Porcupine (Istrice), Unicorn (Leocorno), She Wolf (Lupa), Seashell (Nicchio), Goose (Oca), Wave (Onda), Panther (Pantera), Forest (Selva), Tortoise (Tartuca), Tower (Torre), and the Valley of the Ram (Vadimontone).
The Palio
The Palio, which takes place twice a year is the culmination of the competition among the contrade. It is a passionate horse race that takes place over 4 days, once in July and once in August in the Piazza del Campo. Preliminary races or trial heats are run twice a day leading up to the big day. Ten out of the seventeen contrade take part in each race: the seven that didn’t participate in the previous race, and three more drawn by lottery. Jockeys ride bareback and are dressed in the historical costume of their contrada. The main event lasts only a few minutes but the 3 days leading up to the event are also exciting. Citizens are so loyal to their contrada that couples from different contrada separate and go home to their own families during the Palio.
The Fountain Hunt
The challenge of the Treasure Hunt is a search to find each of the 17 contrada found in Siena. There are several ways you can do this. First, a flag marks each contrada, as pictured in the photo above of the 17 districts. Also, ceramic tiles mark the borders of each region like the snail tile pictured below. Each of these can be a way to guide what district you are in.
Our favorite treasure hunt however, is for fountains. Each of the districts has its own fountain represented by the animal of that district (and in a few cases nature). Some of the fountains are obvious and some are well hidden, but they are all there! My kids got a lot more enjoyment searching for fountains shaped like animals than for flags.
So print out the below map, strap on your running shoes and get searching! For parents with small children, I recommend choosing a handful of pre-determined favorite contrada fountains to search for. Save the rest for a second (or 3rd) visit to Siena. Note that the city is bigger than it seems and some of the districts like Istricie (Porcupine) are a very long walk from the city center. Keep this in mind when your toddler or middle grade child is choosing their favorite.
For older kids, completing this task in one day will require a lot of walking. One of the best things about the neighborhoods each having their own systems in place is that is makes for a city with very little crime. We love that the city is small enough and safe enough to let our teens wander alone (arm them with a smart phone because they WILL get lost). Getting lost is part of the fun in Siena and its a great opportunity for them to learn some really important problem solving skills. You might even want to create a little family competition to see who can find the most fountains (everyone should travel in pairs).
Our Experience
While we have found them all, I don’t want to give away their location so I am only picturing a few of the more obvious ones. Pictured below from left to right are the fountains of the Eagle district, the Wave district, the Panther district, and the Tortoise district.
On our first trip to Siena, when the girls were 4 & 6 yrs old, we knew about the contrade but we didn’t realize each one had its own fountain. We stumbled on a few (at this time, Carly was fountain obsessed) and snapped a picture or two along the way. Tiny feet would never have withstood a full-on hunt.
On our second visit to Siena (girls were 8 & 10) we were much more prepared. We had learned that each contrada has its own fountain and by that time we were determined to turn every place we visited into a scavenger hunt. We went armed with a map and a picture of each of the symbols. The better part of a day in Siena was spent searching for each of the fountains but tired feet got the better of us. We only found about 10 in total. Fortunately, we were staying a short distance away from the city for a full month, so over the next several weeks we got to return a few more times to find the remaining fountains.
We returned this past summer with teens in tow (14 & 16). They had not forgotten our quest to find all of the fountains. This time, however, they were old enough to go off exploring on their own. They each chose 2-3 of their favorites they wanted to visit and set off to find them together. There are so many ways to connect with a contrada – by favorite color, by symbol or favorite animal, or by flag and each time we go back we have a different favorite. One hunt, three different age groups, endless fun! Let us know how many you can find in a day and good luck!