The
combative endeavors of the military companies of San Pellegrino and
Sant’Antonio (which flew a banner depicting a white goose against a
green field, later adopted as the symbol of the contrada) were
linked to a medieval tradition, when the Goose’s warriors fought in
the battle of Montemaggio (1145) and the fateful battle of
Montaperti (1260) in which the Fontebranda quarter deployed 356
soldiers in the field. Since the 15th century the contrada of
Fontebranda has owned the house where St. Catherine of Siena was
born , along with the adjoining shop where her father practiced his
wool- dying trade. The contrada’s religious practices and cult of
Catherine were inextricably linked. Today, the Goose participates in
the celebrations of St. Catherine, patron of Siena and of Italy and
it also dedicates to her a festival in early May. Over the centuries,
the Goose has maintained a singular and pronounced taste for great
popular pageants. When, in 1667, it decided to donate materials to
the contrada of the Caterpillar for the construction of their church,
it sent 81 mules loaded with bricks, ”with a bagpiper in the lead,
and a live goose on the back of the first mule…The entire city
admired the procession, and everybody cheered, -Long live the Goose-“
During the Italian Risorgimento, the Goose’s quarters became the
base for secret meetings of the democrats and republicans. There
still exists a centuries-old and heated rivalry between the Goose
and the contrada of the tower, an inevitable antagonism between the
two most populous, working-class neighborhoods of Siena, one that
dates back to at least the 16th century, and that has never subsided.
The
combative endeavors of the military companies of San Pellegrino and
Sant’Antonio (which flew a banner depicting a white goose against a
green field, later adopted as the symbol of the contrada) were
linked to a medieval tradition, when the Goose’s warriors fought in
the battle of Montemaggio (1145) and the fateful battle of
Montaperti (1260) in which the Fontebranda quarter deployed 356
soldiers in the field. Since the 15th century the contrada of
Fontebranda has owned the house where St. Catherine of Siena was
born , along with the adjoining shop where her father practiced his
wool- dying trade. The contrada’s religious practices and cult of
Catherine were inextricably linked. Today, the Goose participates in
the celebrations of St. Catherine, patron of Siena and of Italy and
it also dedicates to her a festival in early May. Over the centuries,
the Goose has maintained a singular and pronounced taste for great
popular pageants. When, in 1667, it decided to donate materials to
the contrada of the Caterpillar for the construction of their church,
it sent 81 mules loaded with bricks, ”with a bagpiper in the lead,
and a live goose on the back of the first mule…The entire city
admired the procession, and everybody cheered, -Long live the Goose-“
During the Italian Risorgimento, the Goose’s quarters became the
base for secret meetings of the democrats and republicans. There
still exists a centuries-old and heated rivalry between the Goose
and the contrada of the tower, an inevitable antagonism between the
two most populous, working-class neighborhoods of Siena, one that
dates back to at least the 16th century, and that has never subsided.