The District
The participatory role of the “Contrade morte” (defunct districts) in Siena’s great festival has been lost in history.  No record exists to throw light on the mystery surrounding the origins and demise of these six lost contrade:  Gallo (Cockerel), Leone (Lion),  Orso (Bear), Quercia (Oak),  Spadaforte (Strongsword) and Vipera (Viper).  Strongsword  (Spadaforte) was perhaps the last to disappear.  Indeed,  historical documents describe the struggles of a group of woolworkers known as “Battilana” (the Woolbeaters),  gathered around the church of St. Just,  in St. Martin’s Third.  Perhaps it was in them that the flame of the old military company still burned.  More than once between 1673 and 1693,  they attempted to enrol and participate in the Palio bearing their own Strongsword colours and banner.  Ferocious opposition from the other districts caused serious skirmishes throughout 1675, the year in which the commune’s authorities took the historic decision to cancel the Palio and “abolish certain districts”.  The tenacious men of St. Just tried again in July 1693,  but their Palio enrolment was once again turned down.  Since then,  all that remains of the company of five others,  parades behind the “Carroccio” (a wooden cart) in the Historical Procession.  His helmet is lowered and his step echoes across the centuries,  forever excluded from the Festival.

The Name
On the threshold of the 21st century,  the restaurant’s proprietors,  Mr. Andrea Scali and Mr Ciro Serchi,  members of the Tower district and perhaps even descendants of the Woolbeaters of St.Just,  have revived the name of Spadaforte - Strongsword.  In this way,  its name and symbol will be present each day in the Campo square.  History refused to let Spadaforte race in the Palio,  yet today around its laden tables,  people from all over the world meet and talk of it and its legend.