Siena: The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval City
By Jane Stevenson
Apollo £20
The best place to watch the Palio di Siena is by the start. For my first time – decades ago – I secured a good vantage point at that spot, by clambering on to a fence that rings the course.
By the time horses finally arrived in the Piazza del Campo, after the two-hour medieval pageant, 50,000 spectators ached for release. As the jockeys embarked
