Beyond the Palio: urbanism and ritual in Renaissance Siena

Spaces in Theory, Spaces in History and Spatial Historiographies

“…For instance, ritual performances, ‗far from being independent of space, acquire their power precisely through occupying particular spaces' (Arnade, Howell, and Simons 2002). Thus if we take the example of Siena Vevola unpacks its fifteenth century ritual geographies where the architectural space of the city was functioning on many levels, symbolic to everyday, overwritten by temporary routes and processions, which acted to reinscribe significance on the built fabric and modulate the meanings of fixed points (Jackson and Nevola 2006). One can see the competing scales of governance and spatial practice on the occasion of the Imperial visit in 1452 where fears about hosting the overlord prompted a festival before the visit using ‗a ritual route which claimed and declared possession of the city's public spaces' celebrating the popolo regime and self government (Nevola 2003).…”

“…The ritual of greeting was staged outside the northern gate of the city, the Porta Camollia in a relatively large open field, that enabled the theatrical displays surrounding the official ceremonial of meeting between the city's guests and the civic epresentatives, an event which took place in front of a large crowd of onlooking citizens, as well as positioning the ritual in a neutral liminal zone (Nevola 2003). The gates of the city were symbolically charged spaces marking ‗a legal and military boundary between the civitas and the contado,' but also forming ‗a symbolic threshold for citizenship, authority and a host of other values associated with membership of the urban community' (Jackson and Nevola 2006). The ritual inscription of gates has often formed a key moment of spatially instituting power and symbolic control (Sanger and Warmoes 2003).…”