Siena’s contrade: The Contrada of the Unicorn
Posted on 15. Oct, 2010 by admin in Archive, Culture
This Contrada has a very unusual history indeed; first of all its name has changed through the centuries.
During early public celebrations in Siena, the Popolo di Pantaneto presented a series of festive carriages under the name of “Leocorno”, which represented stars, leopards, unicorns or other animals or themes depending on the occasion.
Through time, however the Contrada also started to become known under the name of the “Unicorno” or Unicorn. Between 1750 in 1790 people would refer to the Contrada of the Unicorn, even if in official documents the former name was still used. Perhaps the real reason behind this non-official change of name was superstition: In the 1700′s, the Contrada went through a very long period without winning a Palio; in 1704 they won with Monco and then 72 years later, in 1776 with Angelo Giusto also known as “Ciocio”. This is the longest period that a Contrada has not won a Palio in its history.
Therefore, perhaps for superstition they reverted back to the name Leocorno in the 1800′s. So once again and this time officially the name changed to “Unicorn” between 1807 and 1902 and which also brought a series of 11 victories in the 25 Palios officially recognised by the city authorities in which the Contrada competed.
In 1901 the elder of the Contrada, Carlo Alberto Cambi Gado and Virgilio Grassi, the renowned historian of the Palio and Vicar of the Contrada decided once more to revert back to the traditional name. This request was officially sent to the city authorities in the spring of 1902 by the Prior, Count Placidi. After some time, the Mayor officially declared the name Leocorno, just a couple of days before the July Palio, exactly 108 years ago.
In the 1900′s, the Contrada has run more Palios then any other, participating in 124. It has also been lucky in the participating draw and considering the 11 extraordinary Palios, the Contrada has won a record number of 57 winning draws.
There is another curious piece of information regarding the Contrada’s motto: Fiede et risana al par l’arma c’ho in fronte – Bitter and curative is the weapon which I have before me.
This refers to the old belief that the unicorn’s horn was a miraculous cure for all ails. There are numerous interpretations which link the legendary curative powers of the unicorn and the narwhal, a kind of whale. We can find the horn of a narwhal conserved in the museum of the Contrada.
The Unicorn represents science. It is known that coats of arms representing unicorns were very popular in Tuscany and the old form of the word “Liocorno” can also be found in the coat of arms of the Santa Maria Novella neighbourhoods in Florence, the Worshipful Company of Santa Maria al Prato in Pistoia and of the Porta di Capo di Ponte in Prato.
It was the Latin translation of the earlier Greek encyclopedic work “Fisiologo” which spread the myths of the unicorn’s miraculous powers in the Middle Ages. Therefore this miraculous animal had to be present as the symbol of one of Siena’s Contradas.
Today the coat of arms has at its centre a rampant unicorn above a shield with a blue border which contains the Latin inscription “HUMBERTI REGIS GRATIA”. Another curious legend regarding this Contrada is about the church which today is the Oratory of the Contrada.
Legend narrates that the Chiesa di San Giovannino della Staffa or San Giovannino in Pantaneto was built on the remains of an ancient temple to Jupiter. In this church a bell is still kept which, according to popular belief, was the bell from a Florentine carriage which was captured during the battle of Montaperti in 1260.
The solemn consecration of this church was held on the 10 May 1611 by the Bishop of Grosseto, Cesare Ugolini.
Link to the official site of the contrada: http://www.contradaleocorno.it/
