The Palio of Siena is Italy’s most famous horse race held twice each year, on July 2nd (Palio di Provenzano) and August 16th (Palio dell’Assunta), in the wonderful Piazza del Campo.
Ten horses and riders, bareback and dressed in the appropriate colors, represent ten of the seventeen Contrade (parts in which Siena is divided).
The history of the Palio goes back to centuries ago, and most of the rules and attitudes are still the same after more than 300 years.
But the Palio is not a simple horse race: it is the life of the city itself, of the people of Siena, of the children who grow up following the teaching of fathers and grand-fathers to learn to drum or to use the flag in that special way as the tradition hands down…
If you want to live, to experience and to understand this “unknown” Palio and the Contrade, to discover the secrets of a particular town like Siena, you have to stay some days in Siena, go and have dinner in a Contrada (simple dinners prepared by the people of the Contrada itself) and visit its museum which will tell you a different history you cannot easily find on books…
All the “operations” for the horserace start 4 days before (on June 29th and August 13th) when, the 10 Contrade taking part to the Palio, receive the horse which will run for their colors: it’s a magical moment taking place still in the main square Piazza del Campo and the combination horse-Contrada happens by chance through a particular proceeding.
The following days before arriving to July 2nd or Aug. 16th are marked by the “prove” (tests in which horses and jockeys practice to become more comfortable with the track). During the day you can breathe a different air in Siena while walking in the streets of the city center: you can meet groups of people with the “fazzoletto” (the scarf) of the Contrada singing typical songs which transmit joy and happiness.
The horserace, consisting of 3 laps in the Piazza del Campo, lasts less than 2 minutes, but it’s precede by a Medieval parade, that is a commemorative representation recalling the ancient Repubblica Senese’s institutions, customs and greatness, with its noble families, its allied towns, and then the representatives of all the Contrade with flags, drums…a spectacle you cannot miss….
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