The 17 contrade

The Legend of la BEFANA

Passion of Christ on Palm Sunday

The Grassina Passion Play

Gothic Dream

The Race or Bravio of St. Reparata

Wish upon a star

Halloween

Bacco Artigiano at Rufina

And who was St. Zenobius?

A home from home through the year

More Tuscan history

The Scottish market

Join the Palio events for a glimpse into the Sienese true nature

Race back in time
[Maddalena Delli]

The Palio race has been held since 1701 and is run on July 2nd and on August 16th, in the beautiful shell-shaped Piazza del Campo, flanked by red brick Medieval palaces including the elegant Palazzo Pubblico (town hall) with its slim 'Mangia' belltower. There are seventeen city districts - called contrada, now functioniong much like social clubs - that in the Middle Ages were originally established as rival military companies. In turn, ten out of the seventeen Sienese contrade compete twice yearly in two bareback horse races called Palio. Literally, the 'palio' is the standard (also referred to as 'cencio') which is given as a prize to the winning contrada.
The race itself takes place in the early evening and consists of three laps of the square and lasts less that 90 seconds, but the whole city is in a turmoil for the whole of the three days preceding the event.
If you plan to see the race itself you should know that standing places in the middle of the square are free, but that it can get very - yes, V-E-R-Y! - hot in the middle of a thick crowd under the scorching Italian midsummer sun.
But in all truth, you can have as much fun by just watching the trials (6 of them are held twice daily in the three days before the official race) and maybe select a contrada and join in their street banquets, tickets for which can ususally be purchased on the spot. And if you really can't make it to Siena, as a last resort at least try catching a Palio broadcast on a local tv station.


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http://www.ilpaliodisiena.com
http://www.comune.siena.it