DISCOVERING ... TORRITA DI SIENA
The entire village offers many details of historical and artistic interest, beginning with the ancient gates, and the walls, which were completely rebuilt by the architect Baldassare Peruzzi in 1528.
Porta Gavina is the oldest of the gates and it is also the most singular due to its architecture and its wooden door, which dates to 1200.
It is said that when the Florentines, with the help of German troops, lay siege to Torrita, they captured an old woman named Nencia. They compelled her to sing the praises of the Duke of Florence but Nencia, faithful to the Republic of Siena, continued to hail the “Lupa” (Wolf – the symbol of Siena).
The soldiers, harassing and insulting her, nailed her feet and hands to the Porta Gavina.
Until the moment of her death Nencia continued to cry “Lupa, Lupa”.
In honor of this heroic gesture and her devotion to the Republic of Siena, the Torritesi gave the name Via della Lupa to a street from which there is a splendid view of the Valdichiana.
Porta a Pago is in the northern stretch of wall. Some say its name derives from “Pagum” an ancient village that was located on an adjacent hill, while others sustain that it was a tollbooth for merchandise in arrival.
To exit the fortifications you come to the Porta a Sole where the first wooden dwellings were built to house the families of soldiers appointed to guard the castle. Facing the gate is the “Gioco del Pallone” (football ground), which is the gathering place of the drummers and actors of the village’s medieval pageant during the annual ‘Palio dei Somari’ (donkey race). At the bottom of the “Gioco” stands the small, “Madonna delle Nevi” oratory, constructed in 1525 in honor of Mary during a serious outbreak of the plague.
But the charm of the village is in evidence everywhere. One has simply to stroll the ancient streets, flanked by centuries-old buildings, without haste or destination; an experience made even more enchanting by the aromas emanating from Torrita’s kitchens where the women of the village keep the traditions alive.
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