The Palio Di Siena is a historic event that dates back to the 6th century and continues today, every year it occurs in the famous Piazza del Campo on the 2nd of July and 16th of August. It is a passionate (actually incredibly passionate) and legendary horse race without saddles, which we were fortunate enough to witness and experience! Siena is split into seventeen areas, or in Italian ‘contrade’, in which ten of them participate in the race. Each contrada has its own symbol/mascot of an animal or something related to nature such as: the eagle, the wave, the panther etc. It was beautiful to see that each area has its own unique and colourful flags (the same colours are used for the uniforms of the jockeys) as well as museums of the history of wins and loses, jockeys and horses. We were both surprised to find out that the jockey is partnered with a horse at random, only 4 days before the race! You will see the mascots all over the city as you walk around, as Siena is split into 17 contradeas. Remember to look up at the iron decorations on the surrounding buildings, also the statues and gargoyles at the very tops of buildings as they are tailored to each contrade.
The Piazza del Campo is a beautiful square that is jam packed every year with families, friends, tourists and members of the contrade as it is an important event (also free to watch depending on where you watch from). We were advised that for a better view of the race, we should watch from outside of the center of the piazza, from a balcony or allocated viewing spots from high up to have a birds eye view of the entire event - these viewing spots are charged for. Luckily for us, our friend Caterina invited us to watch the race from her apartment which directly faces the piazza! We had an aperitif (aperol spritz for Scott and a Prosecco for Angus) together before the game began around 7pm as they had a pregame mass, as soon as the race initiated, we felt as though it was a game of quidditch! Screams and roars echoing from the wave of people, jockeys irritating each other with the traditional whips made out of ox sinew and I’m sure we heard the subtle sound of drums under the loud cheering. A couple of the jockeys had fallen off of their horses, no one was hurt too badly, what’s more important is that the horse can still win the race even without the jockey! Seeing the square before the crowds arrive, it really doesn't look big enough for a horse race, with their very tight corners and it seems as though there isn't enough room to manoeuvre!
The race consists of 3 laps which should only take 2-3 minutes, when actually the whole Palio event lasted for hours. With continuous false starts at the beginning of the race, it often takes more than 15 minutes to reset the race after a false start and there is normally a scuffle between rival riders. 3 hours later, the false starts were still going on. Luckily for us, we were in comfort at our friend's house, but to be stuck in the middle of the square with the roaring crowd for all that time wouldn't be fun! After 4 hours, the race eventually starts and is all over after 3 laps, which took around 2 minutes! Don't blink or else you might miss it! The atmosphere of this event, the extreme passion, pride and competitive spirit that the riders and their supporters have is what creates the fun of this event.
The winner of the Palio was...
The contrada La Selva “the woods”! Caterina’s contrada! She was over the moon and as were we for her, the horse brought a lot of honour to the community of selva. Even though it was our first time experiencing the Palio Di Siena, we felt an overwhelming feeling of joy seeing how happy so many people were, after the winner was announced, the street parties and dinners commenced! The street lights were brighter than ever for the first, second and third winners, as well as festive music and colourful clothing; as for the losing contrade their street lights were turned off and it’s best not to go down those streets as the losers remain disheartened and not in the festive mood. The celebrations consist of traditional Sienese music and food, residents set dining tables outside of their houses for a grand street party, we got stuffed with Italian cheeses, hams, salami, barbeque, wine and beer, all for an affordable price.
Overall
Visiting the Palio di Siena was an amazing experience full of different emotions and was most certainly fun! We recommend attending if you are interested in history, sports, competitions or just to try something different. If you dislike crowded places, this is probably not an event for you as the whole of Siena overflows with people of all ages and at times may be hard to move. We advise you not to stay in the centre of the square during the Palio, or else you will not be let out by the security guards until the event is over - which can be many hours later. A lesson we learnt from seeing another Palio in Castiglion Fiorentino!
