This week I had the opportunity to participate in the Palio and all the festivities leading up to the huge horse race. The Palio happened on Thursday and during my entire stay there have been events leading up to the Palio but starting Monday is when the big events started happening. On Monday the people on the board of the Palio chose 10 horses of the 17 that were brought to Siena to tryout for their chance to race in the Palio. Of those 10 horses they assign one horse to each contrada competing. As I mentioned previously only 10 of the 17 contrade compete, they have previously tried to get all 17 to compete but it ended up being too many horses on the small track they use in the Piazza del Campo. Once the horses are assigned to their contrada, based on the horse’s reputation, the contrade pool their money to buy a promising jockey to win them the race. People donate large sums of money to the pot that is used as the winning prize and the money is known to go up to a couple hundred thousand dollars or more. Four days prior to the Palio they hold practice races and parades celebrating their contrada. On the day of the race people start piling into the Piazza del Campo as early as 5 am and they see the Campo has been transformed from a normal square where people hang out in to a horse track with hauled in dirt and fences. At the race they close the doors around 7pm and the race starts at 7:45 pm. When they close the doors, they lock everyone inside the middle of the track and this means there is no bathroom and no exit until the race has come to an end. The jockeys are blessed the morning of the Palio and after that, they cannot be replaced. At the start of the race the police escort the man carrying the horse line up to the announcer and there the order is announced and the horses are put into place. At this particular Palio the contrade with good horses got horrible placement in the line up, which meant no one was happy. There was one contrada that doesn’t have any enemies and he kept refusing to get in the line up, staling the race because he was most likely paid off and didn’t want to create any enemies for the contrada. The man in charge of lining up the horses kept relining them up and the jockeys kept getting out of order trying to change places at the last minute. If the race is stalled long enough, at sun down they stop the race and will continue it the following day. Lucky for us, they finally were lined up and started the race. The race consists of a small track and only going around three times. After about the first lap a man next to me was screaming and crying, they take this race very seriously. The group of us happened to be standing in between two enemy contrade, one of which, was known to have an excellent horse and a promising chance of winning the race. Upon the completion of the race, a fight between these two contrade broke out because the contrade with the promising horse won the race and the other contrada were outraged. Everyone started to back away and the fight was broken up and another fight broke out. After everything was said and done I was so appreciative to have the opportunity to attend the Palio and have access to the explanations behind everything. The Palio would not have meant as much without knowing the information behind it all. It was a great experience that allowed me insight into the Sienese culture. Here are some pictures from the Palio and how crazy packed it gets in the Piazza del Campo.

The packed Piazza del Campo

A picture of the Palio (which is also what the win) The Palio is a painting on cloth.

The ceremonial horses