Siena and the Palio: the history of the Panther Contrada
Posted on 21. Sep, 2017 by admin in Archive, Culture
“The panther roared and the people shook”: this is the motto of a Contrada whose name derives from a machinery depicting a panther that the Contrada inhabitants were used to parade in Siena during the Renaissance.
The Contrada della Pantera extends in the Terzo di Città area (read our post
How to Visit Siena exploring the Terzi for further info) and includes these streets: via di Stalloreggi, Madonna del Corvo, via di San Quirico, Fosso di Sant’Ansano, via Paolo Mascagni, via Ettore Bastianini (dedicated to the popular Sienese baritone), via del Nuovo Asilo, Pian dei Mantellini, piazza del Conte, vicolo del Contino and piazzetta delle Due Porte.
Each Contrada has a peculiar history and each boasts very important protagonists, for example Duccio di Buoninsegna painted his masterpiece Maestà in the workshop close to the Due Porte between 1308 and 1311.
Today, this masterpiece can be admired within the Museum of the Opera of the Duomo and we suggest spending some time even wandering around the Contrade, having seen the main works of art in Siena.
About the name of the Contrada, it is worth recalling that Pantera is twinned with Lucca, whose symbol is just a panther: this old friendship would date back to the XVI century, when the Republic of Lucca helped Siena against the Saracen pirates.
What to know about Panther Contrada
Credits: By William Domenichini (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 ,via Wikimedia Commons
The Palios won by the Pantera are officially 26 and the last victory was on 2nd July 2006, while the next Palio that the Contrada will run will be on 16th August 2018.
The official colors of the Pantera are red and blue with white lists, the official seat is in Via di San Quirico 26 and the baptismal fountain, designed in 1977, is located in Piazza del Conte.
It should be remembered that the longest period without wins for panterini (the name of these contrada members) was 42 years, from 1702 to 1744, and the most burning rivalry is that with the Aquila, born of the mutual hatred between two jockeys clashed in the Palio of August 16th 1936.
Furthermore, in 1947, during a party at the Contrada dell’Aquila, someone offended the Panther’s members by insulting them from a loudspeaker, and from that moment on, the rivalry became official and still persists today.
Each Contrada in Siena has its own magazine, a sort of bulletin to inform the contrada inhabitants about the upcoming events.
The Pantera’s magazine is called Grattapassere, a name derived from jockey Alfredo Iacopini, who ran for Pantera for the first time in 1930 and was very fond of the Contrada members.
Fontanella Contrada della Pantera Credits: federaiko https://flic.kr/p/cU52T1
The story of Ettore Bastianini
The most famous member of the Pantera Contrada was Ettore Bastianini, the young gourd of a baker who in a few years became a baritone singer known all over the world by virtue of his talent.
Bastianini was born in 1922 and had a flamboyant career in opera, which ended too soon because of a throat cancer; he died in 1967 at only 44 years old.
His voice, comparable to bronze and velvet, for the blend of power and softness he was capable of, still resounds in the alleys of the Contrada and in the memory of the opera enthusiasts.
Targa Contrada: By Jastrow (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Credits: Di Janus Kinase (Flickr: MDS_2133) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], attraverso Wikimedia Commons
Preview photo Credits: By Jastrow (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
