Palio di Siena
The Palio di Siena is a horse race held twice each year, on 2 July and 16 August, in Siena, Italy. Ten horses and riders, bareback and dressed in the appropriate colours, represent ten of the seventeen Contrade of Siena, or city wards, in a tradition dating back to the 17th century. The Palio held on 2 July is named Palio di Provenzano, in honour of the Madonna of Provenzano, a Marian devotion particular to Siena which developed around an icon from the area of the city. The Palio held on 16 August is named Palio dell'Assunta, in honour of the Assumption of Mary.
Sometimes, in case of exceptional events or local or national anniversaries deemed relevant and pertinent ones, the city community may decide for an extraordinary Palio, run between May and September, such as on 9 September 2000, to celebrate the city entering the new millennium and on 20 October 2018, in commemoration of the centenary of the end of the Great War.
The Corteo Storico, a pageant to the sound of the March of the Palio, precedes the race, which attracts visitors and spectators from around the world.
The race itself, in which the jockeys ride bareback, circles the Piazza del Campo, on which a thick layer of earth has been laid. The race is run for three laps of the piazza and usually lasts no more than 90 seconds. It is common for a few of the jockeys to be thrown off their horses while making the treacherous turns in the piazza, and indeed, it is not unusual to see riderless horses finishing the race. A horse is not required to have a rider to win the race.
The most recent winner of the Palio was l'Oca, the goose, on July 3, 2025. Giovanni Atzeni, professionally known as Tittia, won with the horse Diodoro for his 11th time.
History
Origins
The earliest known antecedents of the race are medieval. The town's central piazza was the site of public games, largely combative: pugna, a sort of many-sided boxing match or brawl; jousting; and in the 16th century, bullfights. Public races organized by the contrade were popular from the 14th century onwards; called , they were run across the whole city.When the Grand Duke of Tuscany outlawed bullfighting in 1590, the contrade took to organizing races in the Piazza del Campo. The first such races were on buffalo-back and called bufalate; asinate, races on donkey-back, later took their place, while horse racing continued elsewhere. The first modern Palio took place in 1633.
Introduction of second annual race
At first, one race was held each year, on 2 July. A second, on 16 August, was added from 1701, though initially, the August race was run intermittently rather than every year. The August race , which coincided with the Feast of the Assumption, was probably introduced "spontaneously" as part of the feasting and celebration associated with this important festival. The date 16 August was presumably chosen because the other days of the mid-August canonical festival, the 14th and 15th of the month, were already taken up respectively by the Corteo dei Ceri and by the census.The August Palio started out as an extension of the celebrations of the July Palio and was organized and funded by July's winning contrada, though only if the contrada in question could afford it. After 1802, however, organisation and funding the August race became a central responsibility of the city, which removed annual uncertainty over whether or not an August Palio would run. It has been held at least since 15 August 1581 when 15-year-old jockey Virginia Tacci was the first female to ride a steed in the race.
Restrictions
In 1729, the city's Munich-born governor, Violante of Bavaria, defined formal boundaries for the contrade, at the same time imposing several mergers so that the number of Sienese contrade was reduced to seventeen. This was also the year of the decree restricting to ten the number of contrade that could participate in a Palio; the restriction, which remains in force, resulted from the number and extent of accidents experienced in the preceding races.Modern day race
The first race, Palio di Provenzano is held on 2 July, which is both the Feast of the Visitation and the date of a local festival in honour of the Madonna of Provenzano. The second race is held on 16 August, the day after the Feast of the Assumption, and is likewise dedicated to the Virgin Mary. After exceptional events and on important anniversaries, the Sienese community may decide to hold a third Palio between May and September. The most recent was in 2018 to celebrate the anniversary of the end of WWI.The field consists of ten horses, so not all seventeen contrade can take part in the Palio on any occasion. The seven contrade that did not take part in that month of the previous year are automatically included; three more are chosen by draw. The draw, also known as the extraction, occurs at 7:30 PM on a Sunday in the last days of May for the June race, and at the beginning of July for the August race. The draw consists of three trumpeters, known as chianire, who play from the windows of city hall, and then display the randomly drawn flag of the contrade selected for that race.
Private owners, some jockeys, offer the pick of their stables, selected during the year after trial races, other Palio races in Italy and veterinary examination, from which main representatives of the participating contrade, the Capitani, choose ten of approximately equal quality, three days before the race. A lottery then determines which horse will run for each contrada. Six trial races are run, the first on the evening of the horse selection and the last on the morning before the Palio. Corruption is commonplace, prompting the residents of each contrada, known as contradaioli, to keep a close watch on their stable and their rider. The horses are of mixed breed; no purebred horses are allowed.
The race is preceded by a spectacular pageant to the sound of the March of the Palio, the Corteo Storico, which includes Alfieri, flag wavers, in medieval costumes. Just before the pageant, a squad of carabinieri on horseback, wielding swords, demonstrate a mounted charge around the track. They take one lap at a walk, in formation, and a second at a gallop that foreshadows the excitement of the race to come, before exiting down one of the streets that leads out of Piazza del Campo. Spectators arrive early in the morning, eventually filling the centre of the town square, inside the track, to capacity; the local police seal the entrances once the festivities begin in earnest. Seats ranging from simple bleachers to elaborate box seats may be had for a price, but sell out long before the day of the race.
At 7:30 p.m. for the July race, and 7 p.m. for the August race, the detonation of an explosive charge echoes across the piazza, signaling to the thousands of onlookers that the race is about to begin. The race itself runs for three laps of the Piazza del Campo, the perimeter of which is covered with several inches of dirt and the corners of which are protected with padded crash barriers for the occasion. The jockeys ride the horses bareback from the starting line, an area between two ropes. Nine horses, in an order only decided by lot immediately before the race starts, enter the space. The tenth, the rincorsa, waits outside. When the rincorsa finally enters the space between the ropes the starter activates a mechanism that instantly drops the canapo. This process can take a very long time, as deals have usually been made between various contrade and jockeys that affect when the rincorsa moves—he may be waiting for a particular other horse to be well—or badly-placed, for example.
On the dangerous, steeply canted track, the riders are allowed to use their whips not only for their own horse, but also for disturbing other horses and riders. The Palio in fact is won by the horse who represents his contrada, and not by the jockeys. The winner is the first horse to cross the finish line—a horse can win without its rider. A horse can also win without its decorative headgear, although the opposite belief is widely held even among the Sienese. The loser in the race is considered to be the contrada whose horse came second, not last.
The winner is awarded a banner of painted silk, or palio, which is hand-painted by a different artist for each race. The enthusiasm after the victory, however, is so extreme that the ceremony of attribution of the palio is quite instantaneous, being the first moment of a months-long celebration for the winning ward. There are occasional outbreaks of violence between partisans of rival contrade.
There may be some danger to spectators from the sheer number of people in attendance. There have also been complaints about mistreatment of horses, injuries and even deaths, especially from animal-rights associations and even from some veterinarians. In the Palio held on 16 August 2004, the horse for the contrada of Bruco fell and was badly trampled, as the race was not stopped despite possible additional safety risks for other horses. The horse died of its injuries, raising further complaints from animal-rights organizations.
The Palio differs from "normal" horse races in that part of the game is for the wards to prevent rival contrade from winning. When a contrada fails to win, its historical enemy will celebrate that fact nearly as merrily as a victory of its own, regardless of whether adversarial interference was a deciding factor. Few things are forbidden to the jockeys during the race; for instance, they can pull or shove their fellows, hit the horses and each other, or try to hamper other horses at the start.
The most successful ward is Oca, the Goose, which has won 64 races, followed by Chiocciola, the Snail, with 51, and Tartuca, the Tortoise, with 46. Oca is also the contrada with the most wins in recent history with 21 victories, followed by Selva, the Forest, with 18, and Drago, the Dragon, with 17.
Among jockeys, the most victorious of all time is Andrea Degortes, nicknamed Aceto, with 14 wins. Angelo Meloni, nicknamed Picino has the second in the number of wins with 13 successes, and Luigi Bruschelli, nicknamed Trecciolino, has the third most of 12 wins.
The most successful horses were Folco and Panezio with eight wins each, followed by Topolone with seven.
In recent history, only three wards have succeeded in winning both the July and the August races in a single year with the same jockey. Tartuca accomplished the feat in 1933 with jockey Fernando Leoni on Folco. In 1997, Giraffa won both races, with jockey Giuseppe Pes, nicknamed Il Pesse. In 2016, jockey Jonatan Bartoletti, on the mount "Preziosa Penelope", won both the July and August races for Lupa.