Who was St Ansanus? If you haven’t heard of him, that’s not surprising since he’s only really known in Siena and its province. He evangelized the region and thus was martyred in 304 (a bit of bad luck there as Christianity was legalized soon after in 313). He is one of 4 principal patron saints of Siena (the others are Crescentius, Sabinus, and Victor), although our main squeeze is the Virgin Mary (patroness and protector of Siena since 1260). Anyway, keep an ear out for drums as the 17 Contrade send representatives to the Duomo for a special mass in Sant’Ansano’s honour!
Click here to see the procession from 2023 (I did a facebook live!).