Palio di Siena(the horse race)

                                                       Festival's of Italy

Palio di Siena(the horse race)


The Palio di Siena ,known locally simply as Il Palio is a horse race that is held twice each year, on July 2 and August 16, in Siena, Italy. Ten horses and riders, bareback and dressed in the appropriate colours, represent ten of the seventeen contrade, or city wards. The Palio held on July 2 is named Palio di Provenzano, in honour of the Madonna of Provenzano, a Marian devotion particular to Siena which developed around an icon from the Terzo Camollia. The Palio held on August 16 is named Palio dell'Assunta, in honour of the Assumption of Mary.

                                              

Sometimes, in case of exceptional events or local or national anniversaries deemed relevant and pertinent ones, city community may decide for a extraordinary Palio, run between May and September. The last one was in year 2000, to celebrate the entering of the city in the new century.

The race itself, in which the jockeys ride bareback, circles the Piazza del Campo, on which a thick layer of dirt has been laid, three times and usually lasts no more than 90 seconds. It is common for a few of the jockeys to be thrown off their horses while making the treacherous turns in the piazza, and indeed, it is usual to see unmounted horses finishing the race without their jockeys.

The earliest known antecedents of the race are medieval. The town's central piazza was the site of public games, largely combative: pugna, a sort of many-sided boxing match or brawl; jousting; and in the 16th century, bullfights. Public races organized by the contrade were popular from the 14th century on; called palii alla lunga, they were run across the whole city.