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If you ever visited Siena, you surely must have heard of its famous Palio. This horse racing tradition that goes back 300 years, is the most important event in town. But for the Sienese, Palio di Siena is more than just a horse race. The air is loaded with emotions and jam-packed with people twice a year, when the race takes place in Piazza del Campo.
The Cultural Meaning of Palio di Siena
The European Renaissance might have began in Tuscany but Siena didn’t care to keep up with it. The Tuscan town got stuck in the Middle Ages, deep rooted in tradition. In order to understand the Palio, you’ll have to know a few things about the Sienese.
Siena is divided into contrade or wards, each having its own emblem and colors, its own unique mascot and its own flag. But it doesn’t stop there: each Contrada has its own church, its own museum, its own motto, and a host of traditions.
While walking around Siena it’s easy to know which Contrada you’re in because most homes display one of the 17 flags representing the distinct districts. An interesting fact is that you cannot become a Contrada member, you have to be born into it.
Residents are extremely loyal to their own Contrada and celebrate holidays, victories, marriages, baptisms, or funerals only with their Contrada. It is advised that you do not marry out of your contrada, but if that happens the wedding will be celebrated in a neutral ward.
The rivalry between the wards becomes visible and important during the Palio or the horse race. Married couples from different contrade will often split up during the race.
How Palio di Siena Horse Race Unfolds
The Palio is the soul of Siena, the true essence of belonging to the city. Historic documents reveal that this long tradition goes back to the 6th century. The horse race takes place on July 2 and August 16 every year, at the Piazza del Campo.
The rule says that only ten out of the seventeen contrade can participate in each race, so the first seven are those that did not participate in the previous race and the other three are drawn by lots.
The Palio prize is called “Drappellone”, which is a large painted canvas designed each year by a different artist. The winning contrada displays the prize in their own museum.
Order Above All
Despite the fierce rivalries and tensions between the contrade, there’s virtually no crime, violence or disorder associated with it. Apparently, other than traffic and crowd control, the police in Siena seems to have little to do.
Ain’t No Party like the Palio Party
The Palio festivity lasts for four days each time, from the the drawing of the lots and assignment of the horses, to the warm-ups and the victory parties. Each Contrada has its own jockey but not its own horse.
Each Contrada has a bell, which which rings all night long if the Contrada wins, to mark the quarter’s celebration. The greatest dream of each Sienese is to hear the Victory Bell ring in their Contrada during the Palio di Siena horse race.
The horses are being assigned at the beginning of the four days. Trying to get into the city with 60,000 people to watch the Palio may be difficult and overwhelming. But if you want to get a feel of the atmosphere that animates Siena during this crazy horse race, you could take a day-trip to Siena from Florence to see horse-race trials. The trials take place on any of the three days before the actual event.
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The first time we went to Siena, we accidentally went there during the Palio! It took us a while to understand what was going on and we found it quite unsettling. We returned to Siena on another occasion and enjoyed the town much more. Your explanation of how insular each contrada is explains why we felt so much like outsiders!
I found that tradition pretty interesting myself. I don’t think I’d like to be there during the Palio. It must be crazy!
It’s interesting that you have to be born into the contrada, anyway this post made fascinating reading
Thank you, Suze. Glad you found it entertaining.
Ohhh…I am such a sucker for medieval towns AND horses! This sounds like a wonderful experience although I’m not a fan of crowds and 60,000 people would likely overwhelm me. Even so, Siena is one of the cities on our next-time-we’re-in-Italy list.
I find the contrade intriguing, especially because there doesn’t seem to be anything but friendly rivalry between them. Sure would like to know how they managed to accomplish THAT! 🙂
Ha, ha, ha, you are so right, Linda. I wondered how they can still keep civilized in spite of all that rivalry.
This is something I’ve wanted to do! Maybe next summer I’ll finally get to it.
By all means, Corinne, do it. I think it’s a great experience.
The Palio has to be one of the most unique traditions in the world. I have read details of how obsessive people of Siena get over this. There are even security rules having to do with the horses. There are maintained in a neutral area and monitored by people from different contrade. They want to make sure the horses are not drugged or hurt.
Yea, security measures in a race like this make all the sense in the world.
I really like that even though the level of rivalry is quite high, there isn’t much actual violence escalating out of it. What an interesting social history.
I find that very interesting too, Michelle. I would expect that rivalry to escalate into fights, but apparently it doesn’t.
Without a doubt one of the most spectacular events that your can witness. Thanks for sharing this experience.
Fascinating to learn about the history and culture deeply embedded in this event! I hadn’t heard of this race and how the contrada were deeply tied into this distinction of inheritance, and it was exciting to learn so many interesting details and facts about it.
Thank you, Brooke. Glad to hear my post provided some new information for you. I found this tradition very interesting myself.
Siena looks beautiful and charming. What a great way to segregate the city. That event looks fun and probably worth fighting the crowds.
Beautiful city – what an exciting time to be there…
I never heard of this Palio race. Really interesting. I wonder what the prize was back in the 6th century. It’s almost hard to image a tradition that has been going on so long. Also found the ward emblems interesting. I have seen things like that in other Medieval cities, but never knew what they were.
I haven’t heard of the Palio either until I visited Siena.
it seems like a really nice event. I love Italy and I have visited many places, but I haven’t been to Siena yet. Maybe next time we’re in Italy 🙂
You’d love Siena, Shere. It’s a great medieval town with a lot to do and see.