Il Palio di Siena

Arguably the greatest festival in Italy, Il Palio di Siena is an adrenaline fueled spectacle, a medieval horse race on packed clay through the heart of one of the most beautiful cities in Tuscany. At the core of Il Palio are Siena’s 17 contrade – or neighbourhood teams – with some great names…The Snail, The Wave, the Jungle, The Panthers and The Giraffe. The loyalty to the contrada is fundamental to the Sienese – they form an entire social support structure. On birth, they are christened at their contrada font, as they retire they are looked after by team hardship funds. Sociologists believe this is reposonsible for Siena having the lowest crime rate of any city in Italy. The contrade give Siena such a unique character – a clear sense of community and belonging, they should be a feature of every city.

The night before the race we joined the Giraffa contrada for dinner. A thousand people eating good food to honour the rider and the team. Dinner took place in a beautiful piazza next to the contrada church. What did we eat? 8 courses, all very good. I can remember shouting and throwing plates, but the last bottle of wine made it quite difficult for me to remember what we actually ate.

Giraffa contrada dinner

Allowing for a reasonable late start, the following day begins at 11am with a parade which includes the blessing of the horse in the church. The flags of the contrada line the streets and supporters wear the team scarfs round their shoulders.  With all the parades happening at once, the city was gridlocked with processions.

the parade of the Giraffini

By 1300 it’s time to get seats for the race – 30,000 spectators stand inside the track within the piazza. We were lucky enough to get bleacher seats on one of the tightest turns of the course. As tradition, the Carabinieri cleared the course with a charge. Pure health and safety in action.

Carabinieri charge to clear the course

For the next hour we sat and watched each contrada perform ritual displays of flag tossing, which is entertaining for the first 25 minutes. With total respect to the amount of work and effort – and money spent by each of the teams. The judges penalised contestants for the smallest error.

Next the Palio entered – drawn by huge oxen. To literally, great fanfare.

il Palio

After the parade, the riders assembled. The horses were anxious, edgy, unable to settle at the line. Time after time, the marshalls called each horse into position. All 30,000 spectators deadly quiet,  the start line collapsing time after time.

Waiting for the off

And the off…

A fast corner, downhill

The riders pick up great speed, and on the first lap, a rider slams into my camera. The whole bleacher leapt in the air…

Ouch

The rest follow…

riders take the turn by our bleacher

A rider falls

A fall

Behind me an Italian woman begins sobbing. For the afternoon she has been a vocal, excited expert on the race, the riders and the tradition. Her husband leans over and tells me she always cries when the horses fall.

A rider helped off

This was a raw spectacle. Screaming, cheering, crying. Life and death. Watching horses fall, jockeys get crushed. It is not easy. It is a hard, emotional and painful spectacle.

the winning contrade in their church

For the winning contrada – La Selva (the Jungle), the joy was overwhelming, the bells rang day and night. The race was the main item on national news. Two local TV channels dedicated only to the race  dominated the airwaves played footage out 24hrs.

Il Palio is a unique event. I was prepared for a fit-for-tourist manufactured charade. In reality – this is living and breathing tradition, a rare insight into medieval community – proud, drunken, colourful, and brutal.