Town
walls, interrupted at the Porta di Busseto and Porta Sant’Eugenio (later
renamed dei Pispini) were constructed. Assigned to guard these walls
were the men of the military companies of Abbadia di Sopra and
Abbadia di Sotto, who marched together in the city’s pageants and
parades under the symbol of the shell, perhaps- as oral tradition
suggests-because the valley that extends as far as the contrada
headquarters, called the Valle of Follonica, bears a precise
resemblance to a shell. The contrada assemblies were held, at least
until the mid-16th century, in the ancient church of St.John the
Baptist, not far from the Porta Pispini. In 1656 the Sansedoni ,
patrons of the church, donated it to the nuns of St. Clare and the
contrada’s men withdrew to the oratory of the Compagnia Laicale di
Santo Stefano. Finally, around 1680, construction was begun on a
church for the contrada dedicated to St. Gaetano da Thiene and was
built in the baroque style. Finally, there is Società del Nicchio,
founded in 1946 and later rebaptised as La Pania, to highlight it
aim to “impaniare” (that is snare, trap) its associates who were
lured above all by the grand oenogastronomic events that it
organizers. The annual gastronomic fairs, inaugurated in 1964, have
become points of reference and models for analogous initiatives
organized by Siena’s other Contrade.
Town
walls, interrupted at the Porta di Busseto and Porta Sant’Eugenio (later
renamed dei Pispini) were constructed. Assigned to guard these walls
were the men of the military companies of Abbadia di Sopra and
Abbadia di Sotto, who marched together in the city’s pageants and
parades under the symbol of the shell, perhaps- as oral tradition
suggests-because the valley that extends as far as the contrada
headquarters, called the Valle of Follonica, bears a precise
resemblance to a shell. The contrada assemblies were held, at least
until the mid-16th century, in the ancient church of St.John the
Baptist, not far from the Porta Pispini. In 1656 the Sansedoni ,
patrons of the church, donated it to the nuns of St. Clare and the
contrada’s men withdrew to the oratory of the Compagnia Laicale di
Santo Stefano. Finally, around 1680, construction was begun on a
church for the contrada dedicated to St. Gaetano da Thiene and was
built in the baroque style. Finally, there is Società del Nicchio,
founded in 1946 and later rebaptised as La Pania, to highlight it
aim to “impaniare” (that is snare, trap) its associates who were
lured above all by the grand oenogastronomic events that it
organizers. The annual gastronomic fairs, inaugurated in 1964, have
become points of reference and models for analogous initiatives
organized by Siena’s other Contrade. 