The contrade are most colourfully active during the Palio, Siena's famous bareback horse races that take place around Il Campo each year on 2 July and on 16 August.
Visit the city this Monday and you might be forgiven for thinking that you've abruptly time-walked back a good six centuries. If you can squeeze your way into the historic walled town you'll find the streets alive with pageantry and festooned with the banners of the contrade - heraldic flags emblazoned with emblems of snails, geese, dragons, giraffes and unicorns (and rhinos, too, of course).
Indeed, this was my introduction to Tuscany's most flamboyant city; watching the horse race was a terrific thrill lasting less than two minutes, while the parades around it were captivating. However, it's impossible to see much if any of the city through all the Palio crowds, so it's worth returning during quieter times.
I've become increasingly hooked on the rich undercurrents of Siena's contrade with each visit. For all the vibrancy of the Palio, these powerful communities have an otherwise fairly unobtrusive existence. They don't pander to the visiting tourist trade, so to appreciate what and precisely where they are you have to sharpen your observational skills. All of which adds to the joy of being in Siena.
I was en route to a contrada's chapel and museum when I found myself in the neighbourhood of the rhinos. Every contrada has what is effectively a parish church where important events are marked. Before the start of the Palio, for example, the contrada's horse will come here to be blessed, usually from the church steps, but in some cases horses have been known to be led clip-clopping right up to the altar. There's a personal dimension, too. Residents of old Siena are born into a contrada and baptised with due ceremony at its church.
Close to the chapel, each contrada also has a small museum and a fountain, from which wine spouts dramatically whenever their team wins the Palio. And, as if to emphasise how much the contrade are continuing to function in the modern world, the fountains are crowned with a contemporary sculpture of the relevant emblem.
I'd been particularly intrigued as to why a rhino had been chosen as a symbol and was hoping to find out more at the museum and chapel. The contrada in question is called "Selva", or Forest, and although an oak tree features on the insignia, the rhino in front of it dominates. I went to little Piazzetta della Selva, off which lies Contrada della Selva's fountain, museum and church, the Oratorio di San Sebastiano.
The building dates back to the late 15th century and was constructed for the city's weaver's guild, which subsequently revised and embellished it in the 1650s. It was donated to the contrada in 1810.
Its fresco-filled interior features works by Sienese artists Francesco di Giorgio Martini and Rutilio Manetti and is hung, here and there, with the contrada's banners. Contrada della Selva's small museum lies in its crypt, where I had made an appointment with the caretaker. He proudly took me around the eclectic collection of religious art works, medals and memorabilia. And why the rhino emblem? "Aah, it's symbolic of strength and of the wild," the caretaker explained. And with that he showed me the trophy of what was then their latest Palio win, on 16 August 2006.
So it was with a sense of great pride that I noted the results of this year's July race, when Selva horse and rider triumphed once again. The rhinos of Siena can hold their heads up high - until the next Palio race is run on Monday.
- INDEPENDENT