In a generally self-deprecating manner, the author recounts his missteps, minor achievements (being recognized by a bartender, being greeted on the street) and embarrassing moments (wearing too-short yellow shorts in a footrace). Good food and plenty of wine eased the way, however. Acceptance did not come easy for a gay, middle-aged American whose Italian was shaky, and Rodi worked hard to fit in. Usually, he was accompanied and guided by Dario, a genial entrepreneur who gave him entry into the society to which he longed to belong. Rodi views this celebration and game as central to the life of Siena, renewing its people’s hope and making them the happiest and most self-reliant people he’s ever met. Several of his trips occurred during the Palio, the colorful civic competition among contrade held twice each summer and featuring a horse race around the Piazza del Campo in the city’s center. To Rodi ( Dogged Pursuit: My Year of Competing Dusty, the World’s Least Likely Agility Dog, 2009, etc.) the robust Italian appetite for life was a welcome contrast to the “dismaying anemia of modern American culture.” Driven by a deep desire to belong, he traveled to Siena seven times between 20. An American writer from Chicago falls in love with what he sees as an ideal society in the Bruco contrada, an ancient subdivision of Siena, Italy, and strives mightily to become accepted into it.
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