Yesterday (July 2nd) was the 1st Palio di Siena, the most famous horse race in Italy where 10 of the 17 contrade (sections) of Siena race for the honor of winning the palio, a painted silk banner. Fortunately for us, the Palio di Siena was shown on Rai Due. The race can be seen below. The race is 3 laps around Piazza del Campo in Siena which is covered with dirt and safety walls because, as you will see, both the horses and jockeys fall around the tight corners. It is an amazing spectacle to watch as the jockeys ride without a saddle and are allowed to do anything in order to win, such as hitting other horses, other jockeys, making ‘arrangements’ with other contrade to hurt a rival, and even doping. Winning the palio seems to bring about as much pride to the contrada as the Sox winning the World Series after 86 years.

There will be another palio on August 16th with the remaining 7 contrade plus 3 chosen at random. Maybe I’ll have some photos of that one…

For more information about the Palio, please click this link for the Wiki entry.

Last Modified : July 3rd, 2007
Filed under : Italy, Local customs
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