Mapping SIENA

If you happen to spend the longest day of the year in Siena, you're in the right town for some special events. Two recently born festivals celebrate summer solstice in the city of the Palio.  Siena's cathedral and the adjacent museum will stay open until midnight f or the third edition of 'Lux in Nocte' . Various concerts will take place in the baptistery, crypt and Piccolomini library inside the cathedral and the OPA museum.  SIENA CATHEDRAL - LUX IN NOCTE:  Saturday, June 21 2014  Events are included in the ticket price (11€).  To get a panorama view of Siena by night book the fabulous  Gate to Heaven tour  (30€) or climb up on the Facciatone (12€ on booking).  For bookings and more info click through to the Opera Duomo website .  As part of Tuscany's ' Arcobaleno d'Estate ' festival, the June solstice will also be celebrated in piazza del Campo with a special guided tour that takes visitors to the hidden rooms of the Civic Museum  inside P

Siena may not have a gay pride yet, but its first Bio Pride is a step into the right direction. At least if you agree that organic wine and food are the way forward. L'AIAB (Italy's association of organic producers) together with farmers and vineyards from  central Tuscany have initiated the Bio-Distretto. The idea behind these  organic districts is to move beyond the boundaries of a single organic producer and turn whole areas into production zones which follow the tenets of  sustainable and pesticide-free  agriculture.  The Bio Pride in G aiole in Chianti will showcase the majority of  wineries and farms involved in  the organic districts of San Gimignano, Gai ole and  Panzano /Greve in Chianti.  If you want to visit several vineyards in one,  explore the hills to the north of Siena (the historic Chianti Classico area) and stop in Gaiole in Chianti. Gr ab a glass and taste  your way through Tuscan wines which hail from  o rganically and biodynamically  grown vineyards.

The 10 contrade (neighborhoods) which are participating in Siena's Palio horse race on the second of July 2014 are:  Giraffa (giraffe) Chicciola (snail) Drago (dragon)  Tartuca (turtle) Selva (forest) Bruco (caterpillar) Aquila (eagle) Lupa (she-wolf) Pantera (pantheress) Onda (wave) Siena has a total of 17 neighborhoods out of which 10 can run in each Palio.  The seven contrade which couldn't participate in the July Palio in 2013 were already designated to run the July race in 2014. To make up the number ten three more contrade have been drawn a couple of weeks ago from the ones which had participated in the July race in 2013.  Two Palio are run each year, the Palio di Provenzano on July 2 and the Palio dell'Assunta on August 16.  For more info about Siena's neighborhoods, the history behind the Palio and the timing of its trial races on piazza del Campo read What is the Palio di Siena .