If I was searching for saints in Siena, there was one in particular who seemed to get the biggest amount of exposure. No, not Saint Catherine of Siena - Saint Patrick of Guinness!
I tend to avoid faux-Irish bars like the plague when abroad (or even in the UK). The only exceptions I will make are when I am trying to find somewhere showing the English Premier League, and now St Patrick's night. After dinner I went seeking what Siena could offer in terms of craic.
And the craic was good. The Dublin Post is located by the bus station in Piazza Gramsci, which meant that they had a sizeable expanse of pavement outside, where they had set up a stand to cater for the sheer mass of people who had turned up to celebrate the life of a Welsh slave. In fact, with St Paddy's day falling on a Monday their (Guinness-sponsored) bunting advertised an entire 'St Patrick's Weekend', with festivities lasting over four nights. Now that's an awful lot of Guinness!
The covered stand was manned with staff wearing leprechaun outfits and face paint, or rugby shirts and 2007-vintage top hats. They had only three things on cask there - Guinness (€5), Harp lager (€4), and Kilkenny (€4). With every Guinness you got a scratch card. And every card seemed to say 'You're A Winner!'. And every winner could then claim a free foam Guinness top hat. Considering that all around the circular stand the bar was packed two deep there was a lot of top hats bobbing about.
Entertainment had been provided - a band called Will O' The Wisp, who were very good. Bodhran? Check. Fiddle? Check. Tin whistle? Check. Lyrics in Italian? Actually, that was a new one on me. To tell the truth they alternated between Italian and English. 'Dirty Old Town', Ewan MacColl's song about my hometown (well, Salford to be accurate) which gave me a momentary pang of homesickness, was in English, as was 'Molly Malone' and 'The Wild Rover' (though I was the only one shouting "God bless the Pope!"). If it had not been for the Italian lyrics and the balmy weather I would have taken them for Irish. In fact I later found out in conversation that the fiddle player did indeed hail from Belfast.
If it seemed that the whole of Piazza Gramsci was filled with revellers, inside the pub it was actually quieter - the back rooms were almost empty. Decor came straight from a kit - old Guinness posters, displays of pipes, envelopes addressed to the Guinness accounts section at St James's Gate in Dublin etc. There was also a very nice tiled floor. The queue for the toilets was ridiculous though - one cubicle for each gender!
I have to say, despite the fact that I was thousands of miles from Dublin, St Patrick's Night 2008 in Siena was the most fun I have ever had. Everyone, from the over-worked staff to the merry crowds were good-natured and well up fun. The expansion out into the square was an inspired touch, and the beer was good. Finally, the Irish music really added to the atmosphere. I couldn't help but find myself dancing along in the warm Tuscan night until the clock struck twelve, whereupon, woozy with a cocktail of Guinness, Kilkenny, red wine and grappa, I wended my way home through Siena's historic core texting friends of Irish descent to tell them what a great evening I'd had!
From journal Sainted Siena