ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the drappelloni as expressions of, and vehicles for, the articulation of Sienese civil religion. It examines the history of the evolution of the drappelloni, from the eighteenth to the beginning of the twenty-first century. The chapter considers a number of particular drappelloni in some detail. It examines a number of examples of drappelloni which, in one way or another, express Senesita. The chapter shows how drappelloni self-consciously celebrate the history of Siena itself. Indeed, the only explicit reference to official religion appears in the inscription in the centre of the bottom section of the drappellone. When a drappellone is presented to the public it becomes, in itself, an object of devotion. The chapter explores various ways in which these drappelloni express and celebrate Sienese civil religion. It presents a discussion of the ways in which these particular drappelloni relate to, and express, Sienese civil religion.
