Contrada del Drago

GENERAL INFORMATION

HEADQUARTERS: Piazza Matteotti, 18 - Terzo di Camollia

SOCIETY: "Società di Camporegio" - Via di Camporegio, 1

NAME OF THE CONTRADA MEMBERS: Dragaioli

MOTTO: "The heart that burns within me becomes a flame in my mouth"

COAT OF ARMS: depicts a green dragon, forked tongue and armed with red claws and darts, crowned in the ancient style with outspread wings, holding in its right claw a staff with a blue pennant bearing the letter "U" in gold, crowned by royal grant from Umberto I, King of Italy, following his visit to Siena in 1887.

COLORS: antique pink and green with yellow stripes

SYMBOLIZES: ardor

PLACES AND REFERENCES

CHURCH AND ORATORY: Church of Santa Caterina al Paradiso (Via del Paradiso), from 1787/1788 became Oratory of the Contrada del Drago

PATRON AND TITLE FESTIVAL: Santa Caterina - last Sunday of May

MUSEUM: Via del Paradiso

FONTANINA: Work by the sculptor Vico Consorti, created in 1977, bears the inscription: "the love of the Contrada for the art of Vico Consorti entrusts to the Dragaioli who…"

RELATIONS AND ORGANIZATION

RELATIONS WITH OTHER CONTRADE:
allies Aquila
enemies none

CORPORATIONS: Bankers

MILITARY COMPANIES: San Donato ai Montanini and Sant'Egidio

HISTORY OF THE CONTRADA DEL DRAGO

The Contrada del Drago boasts one of the oldest presences among the Sienese contrade. It is documented as early as 1481 outside of participation in public events, and is among the first to appear in the Campo during public festivities: on March 1, 1494, together with Giraffa, Chiocciola, and Onda, it participated in a "Pugna" organized in honor of the Cardinal of St. Malò.

The origins of its identity are linked to the ancient bull hunts, in which members of the Contrada participated with a dragon-shaped machine, earning the name "the men of the Dragon".

Regarding internal life, until the mid-17th century, the Dragaioli held their meetings in private homes or shops of the district. Starting from September 1650, they were allowed to gather at the chapel of the Lay Company of San Domenico in Camporegio.

The definitive turning point for the headquarters of the Contrada came in 1787, when the Grand Duke of Tuscany Pietro Leopoldo donated to the Dragaioli the church of Santa Caterina and part of the Convent of the Nuns of Paradise. The church and the museum are located on the Poggio Malavolti, a hill that no longer exists today and of which the memory is gradually fading.

PALII AND RESULTS

WON PALII: for the Contrada and recognized 39