Palio of Siena

A magnificent Palio

Being in Siena during the days of the Palio is like tasting a familiar wine and rediscovering new nuances and flavours never felt before. We were there this past July 2nd because we went to visit some friends in Radda in Chianti at Radda Hamlet.

The hype of the celebration is reached during the last week before the Palio (July 2nd and August 16th), although the preparations for each Palio seasons last all year long, hidden to the un-initiated eye.


When Piazza del Campo gets paved with a thick layer of Tufo (the typical ochre colored dirt you can find in that particular area) to prevent the horses from injuring themself running on the bare stone, you start breathing a new air when walking through the historical center. People dress differently, wearing the schall with the colors of the Contrada they belong to (they are actually baptised for life and changing Contrada is considered as disgraceful as selling your soul to the devil!!), small or large groups of people sing Palio songs in the streets, glorifying their Contrada or putting down their enemies.


Central streets close to allow evening dinners with thousands of participants in each district. The square is adorned with wooden bleechers to allow the ticket holders to sit at the Palio, while the many thousands can stay in the middle of the square for free, as it used to be centuries ago.

On the day of the Palio you can see the Palazzo Piccolomini and many terraces all around, populated with high chargesfrom the Italian government, rich industrials, and owners of houses in Piazza del Campo. If only you could dress everyone up in Medieval clothes, there would be no space left to imagination, and you would totally feel like 700 years ago, with the different strata of the society coming together on diffrent levels.

You sit there, and wait and look at the Piazza fill up, you watch the historical parade that lasts a good couple of hours, with magnificent costumes and beautiful animals passing in fron of you.

Then the horses come in, an unearthy cape of silence drops on the whole Piazza del campo, and you would have never thought that 10000 chattering people could be so quiet all of a sudden. The big bell on the Torre del Mangia keeps on beating its salute to the Virgin Mary. The horses allineate at the start line, the last horse enters the starting area, the rope is dropped, the horses start flying on the dirt, while a wave of screams reaches you and you start screaming too, when the horses pass in front of your face almost unheard. This happens twice more, and it is all ended before you can realize it all started.

The glory goes to the winners, disgrace to everyone else, in particular to the enemies of the winner and to the second place. At this point everybody is screaming and crying and hugging, and the winners run towards the Palio, standing there to be grabbed and brought in triumph through the streets of Siena, only after having passed from the church to thank the Virgin Mary, to whom the Palio is dedicated.

A lovely experience I really advise you to try!!!