August 16th is the day when the original Palio of Siena is run, that dedicated to the Holy Mary the day after the Assumption holiday. Siena is a city that is very devoted to the Virgin Mary, and therefore this is a very felt edition of the Palio.
This year’s august Palio of Siena was won by the Civetta district, and for those waiting in the square the wait was quite long. The race should have been run at 7PM, but as usual, due to some sort of obscure pre-arrangements among contradas that want to make the life of their enemies harder, the race could not be run till past 8PM, and many feared the race would be postponed to the next day due to lack of sufficient sunlight to run the Palio safely. In such cases, a green flag hangs at the starting position til the next day at 7PM.
Some interesting facts about the Palio of Siena.
There is no second position, the winner is the first one and all others are losers. The second position is actually the worst, as it is an almost-won-but-not-quite type of situation that actually earns the contrada the mocking name of “purgata” (scoured with laxatives).
There is no flag or pistol bang to start the race. The tenth contrada that is extracted is set at the back of the nine lined at the starting line, outside the two ropes delimiting the starting area. When the tenth contrada enters this area and all the other nine are properly lined up, the start is valid, the rope dropped, and the Palio raced. Otherwise the rope is dropped, but the start is not valid. The tenth is the most disadvantageous position and rarely is the winning contrada.
The Palio can be postponed to the next day due to heavy rain, darkness or other acts of God without any notice.
If a jockey falls down the horse, the contrada can still win as long as the horse keeps the pennant on his head up. On the contrary, that horse does not represent that contrada anymore.
Jockeys wear silk dresses, and they are not allowed to use a saddle or feet rest of any sort. Staying on top of the horse dressed in a silk suite slipping on the sweated back of the horse is not an easy task.
Jockeys can be changed up to 11 in the morning of the day of the Palio, while the horse, once assigned, is there to stay. Should the horse not be fit for the race, the Palio will be raced by nine horses.
The contrada that has not won the Palio for the most years, is called the grandma, and wears an ideal bonnet. Civetta was the grandma and passed the bonnet along.
Here is the video of the August 2009 Palio of Siena as it was broadcast on television. Unfortunately you do not get the atmosphere in the Piazza del Campo, which was mesmerizing.
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