An Unexpected Concert.

As we dawdled back from dinner, we heard pounding. It repeated, drums reverberating through the winding streets. Coming out upon the Campo of Siena we saw a crowd. The Campo in Siena is reminiscent of a shallow amphitheater, all lines leading downward toward a low point before the grand secular tower. There was a stage erected there and just off the stage were a circle of drummers in the very center of the crowd. They wore red, but in the dim evening light, all that was visible was the splashes of motion caused by their furious arms.

Later the musicians took the stage and proceeded to fiddle around for an hour. By the time a gawky Italian with an afro took the stage, we were already one by one drifting back to the hotel, feeling a pleasant calm, perhaps from the afternoon's rain.