My Siena Mementos

1. Postcards. Postcards are a cute and easy thing to get while you’re abroad. Especially in the city center of Siena, there are so many small shops dedicated to selling things related to the city, the Palio, and the Contrade. Many of these shops have small postcard stands displayed outside. I picked up one of the Oca Contrada,one depicting all of the Contrade’s symbols, and a cute vintage-style Italian poster. Of course, you can write on them and send them to your friends and family, but I saved mine to hang up in my college apartment.

2. Jewelry. I love wearing jewelry, and I especially love picking up pieces that carry history. All of the jewelry shown below is from Siena, though I also got some other beautiful jewelry in Florence. The sun necklace is from Silver Creations, and has an amber stone in it. This store has so much beautiful celestial, Murano glass, and Mother of Pearl jewelry. The gold horn necklace and cameo earrings are both from Sena Vetus, an antique jewelry shop. Since going to Florence I had been searching for cameo earrings that I could wear every day, and these were the ones that called to me! And the horn is a symbol to protect against evil, much like the blue evil eye. These horns are made with coral most of the time, but I am glad I found a gold one. The ring is from Ruffini, which is on the same street as my apartment! Ruffini is a very hippie and cool jewelry store—it also has crystals!

3. Siena things. I couldn’t go home without getting some Siena merch. At one of the tourist shops I got a cute framed picture of the Piazza del Campo to remember my time experiencing the Palio. At another tourist shop I got a barbero keychain. Barbero refers to the horses in the Palio, however, there are also small wooden balls that represent each Contrada’s horse in the Palio, so these are also called barberi. I got the Oca barbero because that is the Contrada that I lived in! These barberi are used in the Palio to match each horse to each Contrada and determine the order of the horses in the Palio. They are also used as toys within the Contrade. Each Contrada has a small race track for the barberi near their oratory, and you can find little kids racing their barberi there. The small Oca mug is a gift from IES Abroad to remember our stay.

It’s safe to say that my college apartment will be decked out with Siena memorabilia this year. I find myself looking through photos from my time in Italy constantly, and I am looking forward to the day when I can go back with the friends I made there. A memento honorable mention is the picture frame below! I made Elke walk forty minutes with me to a craft supplies store outside of the city walls so I could get things to paint. I ended up not having time to do any crafts while I was in Siena, but one of the first things I did when I got home was paint my picture frame and print a picture of us! I’ve also been texting my Siena friends about palio updates! The August Palio is on Friday, so of course we are oohing and ahhing about the horse and jockey assignments and planning a watch-party.