SIENA & THE PALIO - WHAT A VENUE FOR A HORSE RACE - PART 2

Siena's annual Palio horse race is renowned throughout the world for its traditions and spectacle and people travel from the four corners of the globe to see it every year. It's not an event purely aimed at tourists though for its rites and rituals are deeply embedded in the history of the city and continue to play a role in defining the place that Siena is today - despite it being controversial to some.

I find it interesting how my present travels in Italy stir memories from life 20 or 30 years ago. I first came across it watching TV in the 1980's when chat show host Russell Harty did a Grand Tour of Italy and included Siena and the Palio as one of the venues and events to be filmed for the programme in the series focusing on Tuscany. I happened to know Russell then as we were both inhabitants of the small market town of Settle in the Yorkshire Dales. Russell was a frequent visitor to my Mum's antique shop. I remember talking to him about the Tuscany programme then and I found his description of the history of the Palio fascinating. Today I consider it a privilege to have been to see the place where it takes place and to be able to write about it in my blog.

"MR HARTY'S GRAND TOUR" 1988
Interestingly the book cover shows that chat show host
sitting in Siena's campo.

I have to confess though that I haven't seen the race first hand and what follows is an account of the event based on my experience of visiting the city a couple of .weeks ago, reviewing the race in U tube clips and doing some research. Sitting in the Campo, as we did a couple of weeks ago, fired my imagination and it wasn't difficult to imagine the atmosphere of the place on Palio day. I'm a bit saddened to also think that I won't be seeing it in the future either. The race takes place in the high summer when it can be very hot and the only place for unticketed members of the public to watch is from the cordoned off central part of the Campo. Any visitor wishing to be a spectator would have to turn up early and be prepared to probably stand for several hours before the evening race and there are no loos!! There are some tickets available every year for the banked seats round the edge of the race track, but I'm supposing its not easy to get hold of them. So - unless I'm invited to be a special guest by a group occupying one of the balconies or windows overlooking the square (I wish) the Cox presence will probably not be felt at the event. Awww - I can hear you saying!! I should mention though that the race itself is only a small part of the Palio experience and lots of preparatory rituals and pre-race events have to be gone through over several days prior to the race itself. So what exactly is the Palio and how did it originate?

Throughout Italy festivals rooted in sporting competition have played a significant part in community life for centuries. In Citta della Pieve in Umbria, the little hill top town where we have our apartment, there's an annual Palio held every August in which the town's Terzi compete with each other in an archery competition preceded by a grand procession through the town's narrow streets. The term "Palio" actually means "banner" - the trophy awarded in a competitive event. Such festivals must have provided an opportunity and an outlet for alpha males to bond together and collectively defeat opponents from a different part of town. In Siena, during the medieval period, "elmora" were popular. These were mock battles fought by teams of young men wearing light armour and carrying quarter staves. Usually it was the Terzo di Citta against the other two Terzi - the aim being to drive the other side out of the Campo. In 1263 records show that stone throwing had to be banned at these events and in 1291 ten men died at the elmora leading to its suppression and replacement with "pugna" - fist-fighting competitions. In the 14th century other types of event were recorded including one involving the contrade (districts) when 30 young men would try to get a donkey painted in the colours of a ward first round the Campo against the obstruction of the the other teams. These "asinate" or similar ones called "buffalate" involving buffalos, may have been the antecedents of what would evolve in to the Palio involving horses we know today.

What the precise origins of the Palio are remains a matter of conjecture. A Sienese palio is recorded as early as 1238, but it appears to have been a straightforward race between single owners and had nothing to do with the contrade. It was held outside the northern gate to the city and even foreigners were allowed to enter horses in the race. Later it was run inside the city walls on certain religious festival days and in a more or less straight line from the Porta Romana to the Duomo. Even then it was not run along contrade lines.

The modern day Palio probably began in the 17th century when horse races round the Campo were introduced with rules which allowed interference with competitors during the race, no use of  bloodstock and an element of pageantry to boot. This time it involved the various contrade entering horses and riders for the event and herein lies the origin of the modern race.

Seventeen contrade have survived in the city from originally a much larger number in the middle ages. We can think of them as city neighbourhoods and their boundaries were finally established by statute in 1729. Originally each probably had a militia drawn from the men in the community whose responsibilities involved patrolling the streets at night to help preserve law and order. As time passed these groupings were forged into fiercely independent, close-knit groups with clear identities within the larger city community. Each had a strong spirit of mutual aid (rather like a brotherhood) and each proudly took their civil responsibilities seriously. Competing with other contrade groups would have been a feature of life and a ritual like the emergent Palio would have been a perfect outlet for showing prowess in a competition with other contrade. Even today the Sienese are fiercely "contradaioli" (loyal residents of a contrada) first and Sienese second.

A VINTAGE SILK HEAD SCARF SHOWS THE COSTUMES AND FLAGS
OF THE VARIOUS SIENA CONTRADE WHICH COMPETE IN THE PALIO

Today the Palio is held in Siena twice a year - on July 2nd to commemorate the miracles of the Madonna of Provenzano and on August 16th to honour the assumption of the Virgin. Only 10 of the 17 contrade compete in each race through a rotation system linked to a lottery which takes place before each festival. Jockeys are selected by each contrade from a range of professional jockeys available and so each can become familiar with his horse and make a bond with it - 6 trial races take place in the campo - the last one on the morning of Palio day itself. The 5th trial is held the evening before the festival and is named the Prosa Generale (general trial) and after it each competing contrada holds an outside rousing celebratory dinner. Many spectators choose to watch one of the trials rather than the event itself.

EACH HORSE TAKING PART IN THE PALIO IS BLESSED IN THE CHURCH
OF THE CONTRADA IT REPRESENTS ON THE MORNING OF THE RACE

A number of important rituals take place on the day of each race. Each contrada takes its horse inside its own community church or chapel for a blessing ceremony with the local priest and the contrada members and tourists turn up to witness it. Also on the morning of the race, in the chapel next to the Palazzo Publico in the Campo, the Archbishop of Siena says a mass for the jockeys taking part in the race and the contrade captains all go to the town hall to register their horse and rider. During the day the atmosphere builds up in anticipation of the grand historical procession which begins at 5pm and lasts about an hour and a half.

BY 4PM THE CAMPO IS FULL AND THE CROWDS WAIT FOR
THE HISTORIC PROCESSION TO BEGIN AT 5PM

The historic procession, called the Passeggiatia Storica, is taken very seriously indeed and is well organized and rehearsed. The parade is colourful, vibrant and all of its participants are in historical costume. There are mace bearers, trumpeters, bandsmen, grooms. standard bearers and individuals who represent the traditional rulers of the city including the Podesta - the Captain of the People of Siena. Each contrada taking part in the race has the opportunity to present its credentials to the crowd through its 19 costumed members and though I'm amused by the commentator who described the event as being a bit like a traditional deck of cards come to life, it seems to be something much more significant than that. The costumes of each contrada are based on the colours of the standard and the flag is the keynote emblem of each one. The most spectacular part of the procession is the flag throwing when standard bearers from each contrade toss their flags and throw them in to the air in spectacular displays. A special award is made to the contrada who presents itself best in the procession and its a valued prize. As one commentator has put it - rivalries between different contrada are much more complex than they are say between two football teams from Manchester or two baseball teams from New York!

STANDARD BEARERS FROM THE "AQUILA" -
THE NOBLE EAGLE CONTRADA  WAVE THEIR FLAGS FOR THE CROWD

The procession ends with four white oxen pulling a cart in to the Campo on which the Palio - the standard that will be awarded to the winning horse and jockey representing one of the ten contrada taking part in the race.

THE CARROCIO EXHIBITS THE PALIO THAT WILL BE
AWARDED TO THE WINNING CONTRADA

After the parade the horses and jockeys enter the Campo and get ready for the race to begin. Nine of the horses will line up behind a rope and the tenth, chosen by ballot I think, will be the one that will have the power to start the race by galloping up to the rope and then the race begins and all hell breaks out.

THE RACE IN FULL SWING

The race is three circuits of the Campo and lasts only 90 seconds and there are some hair-raising parts of the track for the horses to negotiate; at one corner of the Campo for example there is a sharp downhill turn which is dangerous for all the competitors. During that brief 90 seconds, horses can stumble and fall, jockeys can be thrown and still the race continues apace until the winner crosses the finishing line and then its over. The winning horse and rider, swamped by supporters, will eventually make their way to the Duomo in the August race for a Te Deum service of celebration involving the Siena church hierarchy and the winning contrada members. In the evening there will be an open air banquet in the streets of the winning contrada.

Should one see the Palio? Well having described its historical and contemporary importance and its form and nature, I am persuaded that I would if I had the opportunity to see it from a good, safe vantage point. Horse lovers might think differently though so you might not wish to view the U tube video of the 2016 August race which is below

Who won the August 2016 Palio race then? Well it was won by the Lupa - the She-Wolf District whose church is St Rocco in the Via Vallerozzi.

Until next time
Ian