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FLAG WAVERS AND DRUMMERS
It was September 1363 and the Sienese Republican troops had pushed the mercenaries of the Compagnia del Cappello (The Hat Party)
all the way to the Valdichiana. These mercenaries had been ruining and pillaging Ghibellini castle, from Val d'Elsa to Maremma for too long, taking advantage of the tacit approval of Florence which had financed them in the battles against Pisa and Siena.
'The had Party' had camped in the valley between Mount Torrita and the Chiana swamp in order to take advantage of the lake as a natural defence form being surrounded, maintain a potential route of escape to friendly Arezzo and, thus, be vulnerable only to frontal assaults.
As a symbol of the everlasting fidelity to Siena, the small group of ‘torritese’ troops left the reassuring walls of their town, risking a battle, to obtain an observation post on Mount
Ascianello.
This proved to be very useful because enemy troops could now be monitored and their movements be signalled, with the use of flags, to the Republican army arriving quickly form the north, through the Chianina valley.
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The people of Torrita had thus proved to be ready to die for the liberty of their castle and of the whole Republic. It was for the summit of the old pagum
turrito that, on a cold afternoon of mid September, the Torrita flag-wavers, while observing the enemy camp, raised their flags and, in rhythm with their drums and the blasts of their trumpets, signalled to the Sienese troops the right moment to attack and exhorted the ‘torritese’ troops to join in the fight.
Few mercenaries escaped death because of the fervour and rapidity of the attack and the whole valley was covered with dead bodies like a large river of blood, Peace was thus restored in the whole Sienese Republic.
The damaged walls were rebuilt and all the citizens who had contributed to the glory of Siena went back to their jobs. The ‘torritese’ soldiers and flag-wavers who, through their actions, had contributed to the success in battle, were given titles of hour by the Council of Twelve of Siena; only then was the small castle of Torrita honoured and admired by the Sienese for the audacity, courage and strength of the rampant lion and not solely for the corn that came form there and was used to fill the city’s warehouses.
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