City of Stars (42 page)

The parade came to an end and the bell stopped, without any sign of Falco. Georgia decided to give up worrying about him and just enjoy the race. The twelve horses started to enter the Campo and she soon picked out Cesare on the tall chestnut. He looked stylish and confident. There was always an aura of respect around the horse of the Twelfth to win the most recent Stellata and it didn't matter that it carried a different jockey.

The whips were handed out and the horses moved to the start. Duke Niccolò himself drew the Twelfth balls out of the bag and the order was determined. There was the usual shuffling and blocking and the crowd's attention was fixed on the start-line.

Then, just as the Rincorsa (this time the Water-carrier) was making its run, down through the air sailed the winged horse. There was no warning cry from a Manoush this time. Just a folding of black wings and an elegant landing at full gallop, as the thirteenth horse joined the race.

The crowd went wild; who was this jockey, in his strange costume? He wore no single set of colours but had the scarves of all the Twelfths tied on to his ordinary stable boy's clothes. He wore no helmet and his black locks streamed out behind him. He was a handsome boy and the Remoran girls began to cheer for ‘Bellerofonte! Bellerofonte!' instantly naming the stranger after a flying horseman of old legends.

Merla and her rider flowed round the first circuit well ahead of the twelve other horses and then the first rumour began in the Twins' stand and rippled through the Campo faster than any steed. The cry changed to ‘Falco! Falco!' and soon the spectators in the centre began to fall to their knees and cross themselves.

‘A phantom!' went the rumour. ‘Prince Falco has returned to his own commemoration!' Gaetano sat like one made of stone, barely able to breathe and clutching Francesca's hand. No one heard him whisper, ‘It worked!'

The Duke was the only one on his feet, his face a white mask of terror – or perhaps fury.

Fear filled all the jockeys except Cesare, but Falco would have won easily anyway. He didn't fly Merla but she was still faster than any normal horse. He was racing towards the finish line, yards ahead of the Ram and the Lady.

As soon as he reached it, he whispered in Merla's ear and urged her up into flight. As the flying horse took off into the setting sun, her mighty winged shadow fell over the upturned faces of the crowd beneath. And then came the intake of breath and the cries of ‘Dia!' The shadow-horse had no shadow-rider.

As it passed over the Lady's stand, a purple and green scarf came fluttering down to be caught by the Duke's mailed fist.

It took a moment or two for people to realise that the race was over. Cesare had pulled back at the last moment and the Lady's jockey had taken his chance. Cherubino had urged Zarina across the finish point and waved his whip aloft, victorious. The Lady's supporters invaded the track to embrace the jockey and pat the horse. Georgia left the Ram's stand and pushed her way towards Cesare, against the swelling rush of the Lady's Twelvers wanting to wrest the Stellata banner from the Judges' stand.

‘Why did you do it?' she whispered to Cesare, who stood sweating beside Arcangelo.

‘Look at the Duke,' said Cesare. ‘It doesn't do to keep crossing the Lady.'

‘But Falco would have been disqualified and you would have won easily for the Ram,' protested Georgia. ‘Imagine, two Stellata banners in one year! Arianna would have been delighted.'

‘Rules or not,' said Cesare, ‘Falco was the real winner.'

They looked at the Duke, who was being guided down from the stand to congratulate Cherubino. He was glassy-eyed and clutching the green and purple scarf, still warm from his son's body. In spite of the clamour of the spectators, he did not believe he had seen a ghost. As he descended into the Campo, he caught sight of the flame-coloured girl and the chestnut horse and remembered the mysterious jockey of the Ram's who had robbed his family of victory a month ago.

Duke Niccolò knew exactly what he had seen, even if he didn't understand it: his son, transformed, whole and well again, had returned to show him and his family that he still lived, in another world. And the Stravaganti had the secret. From now on, he would move heaven and earth to find out what it was.

 

A Note on the Stellata and the Palio

 

As Georgia discovers, the annual horse race in Remora is not quite the same as that of Siena. Some of the differences arise from the differences between the actual and imagined cities. Remora is divided into twelve wards – called Twelfths, naturally – while Siena is divided into seventeen
contrade
.

The Twelfths are named after the Talian version of the Zodiac, whereas the
contrade
take their names from a range of animals, even slow ones like
Bruco
(caterpillar) and
Chiocciola
(snail), and a few objects –
Nicchio
(shell),
Torre
(tower),
Onda
(wave) and
Selva
(forest).

There is only one ward which is the same in both cities – the Ram in Remora and Valdimontone in Siena. The colours of Valdimontone are also red and yellow and their symbol of the crowned Ram can be seen everywhere in the south-east of the city of Siena, in the Third of San Martino.

The Palio is run twice every summer – on 2nd July and 16th August – whereas the Stellata happens only once, on 15th August. Both can have extra races to commemorate special occasions. Only ten
contrade
run in any single Palio – seven by right, because they won't have had a horse and jockey in the equivalent one the year before, and three drawn by lot. It is therefore possible for a
contrada
to win twice in a year, though this is rare.

The great Campo in Siena is not circular, but shell-shaped; nevertheless, it is still the case that the Palio, preceded by a two-hour procession, the
Corteo
Storico
, takes only about a minute and a half to run. (It may take an hour or more, though, to get an approved start!)

The Palio used to be run on the straight, from as far back as the fourteenth century, but transferred to the Campo in 1650. In Remora, the Stellata has already been run in the circular Campo for at least a century in 1578.

There are three aspects of the Stellata which I thought I had invented, only to discover that they had actually happened in the Sienese Palio. Hundreds of years ago, the jockeys in Siena were likely to be young teenage boys, and there was even a girl racing in a special Palio of 1581. She was called Virginia and rode for Drago (the dragon), but did not win.

And I discovered that there was an ancient tradition of
contrade
having special allegiances with other cities, long after I had decided on the Reman custom that linked the Ram to Bellezza, the Lady to Giglia and so on. As Alan Dundes and Alessandro Falassi say in their book
La Terra in Piazza
(University of California Press, 1975), ‘We must not forget that every
contrada
considers itself a little republic or state ... Many
contrade
have established twinning arrangements with other Italian cities, as if they were political entities completely separate from the city of Siena.'

 

About the Mary Hoffman

 

Mary Hoffman has written more than ninety books for children and young adults. She also reviews regularly for the
Guardian
and other newspapers and journals. She blogs weekly at www.maryhoffman.co.uk, where you can also find her tips on writing.

 

Mary's passion for Italy is well known and she still studies Italian once a week in Oxford. She has three grown-up daughters and lives with her husband and three Burmese cats in a converted barn in the Cotswolds. And yes, she does have an Aga.

 

www.stravaganza.co.uk

 

www.maryhoffman.co.uk

 

www.bloomsbury.com

 

THE STRAVAGANZA SEQUENCE

 

By Mary Hoffman

 

Stravaganza: City of Masks

Stravaganza: City of Stars

Stravaganza: City of Flowers

Stravaganza: City of Secrets

Stravaganza: City of Ships