The Palio of Siena
4 min · 7 May 2024

The Palio of Siena is Italy’s most famous historic horse race and one of the most fascinating events Tuscany has to offer. It takes place twice a year in the magnificent setting of Piazza del Campo (or more simply, the Campo), Siena’s main square and one of the reasons why Unesco listed its historic centre as a World Heritage Site. It attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world, but it is not an event organised for tourism purposes: it is an integral part of the culture of the city and its people. Quoting the words of anthropologist Alessandro Falassi: ‘It is a festival that has been many festivals, it is the ritual of a city and the historical memory of a civilisation whose worldview is staged twice a year‘.
What is the Palio of Siena? For the uninitiated, it is a medieval tradition that pits the city’s contrade against each other in a spectacular horse race. Siena is divided into 17 contrade (Aquila, Bruco, Chiocciola, Civetta, Drago, Giraffa, Istraffa, Leocorno, Lupa, Nicchio, Oca, Onda, Pantera, Selva, Tartuca, Torre and Valdimontone) but only 10 take part in each Palio: the 7 that did not run the previous Palio plus 3 drawn from the 10 that took part. The ‘carriera‘, as the race is traditionally called, consists of three laps of the square, on a track made of a mixture of sand and ‘tuff’. The course, which is extremely irregular, is marked by two very difficult hairpin bends: the one known as San Martino, due to its proximity to the church of the same name; and the other known as del Casato, because it is close to the street of the same name. The winning contrada is awarded a painting on cloth known as the Drappellone (known, in turn, as the palio or, popularly, ‘cencio’).
When is the race? The traditional races are held at sunset on 2 July (Palio della Madonna di Provenzano) and 16 August (Palio dell’Assunta). Sometimes, however, to commemorate special city or national anniversaries, a third Palio called the Extraordinary Palio is run, for which different rules apply (e.g. it can be run by all 17 contrade). The Palio is preceded in the three days before by the so-called ‘tratta‘ (i.e. the moment when the horses are assigned by drawing lots to the participating contrade) and six trials (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) during which the jockey becomes familiar with the horse. On the day of the Palio, there is also a historical procession (or historical walk) in which almost 700 participants representing the 17 contrade and institutions of the ancient Republic of Siena take part. The procession starts in Piazza del Duomo and ends its tour in Piazza del Campo after parading through the streets of the city centre.
Regarding the origins of the Palio there is no certain date, just as there is no precise information for the foundation of the city, which in myth begins with a ‘palio’ at length. The only certainty is that it has ancient origins and that its history is intertwined with that of the city. The oldest document testifying to a Sienese ‘palio’ dates back to 1239 (a fine inflicted on a certain Ristoro di Bruno di Cigurda, guilty of refusing the prize of mockery), while certain evidence of the first horse race dates back to 1633. It was, of course, a palio in a different form from today’s. Only in the 19th century did it take on its current ‘medieval’ guise. Instead, the exact definition of the contrade, still in vogue today, dates back to 1729.
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