The past is present in Siena and vice versa: a city enchanted by the language of Catherine of Siena as well as by the songs of rock poet Gianna Nannini, the love of nature of Pope Piccolomini, and the historian Iris Origo, the old poisonings of Giorgio Vasari, as well as the astonishment of Umberto Eco in the face of the Palio. And then there’s the Palio! The horse race in the central square, the Campo, where the individual neighborhoods compete against each other - a fever that shakes the city twice a year and never quite disappears for the rest of the year. Travelers - from Hyppolite Taine to Henry James, Zbigniew Herbert, and José Saramago - gaze in amazement at this wild spectacle of fresh colors, faded rituals, and young riders. But the three great connoisseurs of the city - Romano Bilenchi, Federigo Tozzi, and Mario Luzi - remain composed.