Palio of Siena
We can’t claim this post directly relates to a Steamboat Springs ranch wedding at La Joya Dulce. Maybe a honeymoon idea?
Kathie and Wayne are vacationing in Tuscany, and the main attraction is the Palio horse race in Siena. Siena is a well-preserved medieval city, and its traditions have carried forward to the present day -- the “modern” version of the Palio has been run since about 1650, and the race customs and rules are about the same as in the 17th century.
“Palio” means banner. The day before the race, a procession brings the Palio to a church to be blessed.
One must be literally pushy to get into the blessing ceremony (so we pushed). Each of Siena’s 17 districts (“contrada”) sends a drum and flag group to the blessing. The pounding drums are not your standard church service!
The race takes place on Siena’s Campo. There are several trial races in the days before the main race, and although the trials are meaningless, the Campo is nonetheless packed. More pushing!
Ten of the contrada run the race (the track isn’t big enough for all 17 contrada to run at once – those that don’t run this year are guaranteed a spot next July). We had balcony tickets for the day of the actual race. The pre-race ceremonies start about 3 hours before race time.
The Palio itself arrives on a cart drawn by four huge white oxen
The horses (sort of) line up behind a rope, without the starting gate one would see at a US horse track. The starting positions are drawn by lot, but there is still a huge amount of jockeying for position. It took fully 45 minutes from the time the horses started to line up until the race started.
The jockeys ride bareback, and falls are common. In fact, jockeys have been known to intentionally pull other jockeys off their mounts. Once there is a clean start, the race goes for three laps, and lasts about 90 seconds.
Right after the race, members of two of the contrada squared off on the track – a jockey was accused of interfering with another. Interference is not against the rules, so the grudge was settled by fists and kicks.
The prize – the only prize – is the Palio itself, which is claimed by the winning contrada. This race was won by Drago (“dragon”), which paraded the Palio out of the Campo and through the city.
