Twice a year, on July 2 and August 16, the usually reserved banking city of Siena, Italy, erupts in a fury of vivid colors, drumbeats, and chanting which echoes throughout its narrow stone streets and moves toward the city's center, the immense Piazza del Campo.
The cause of the excitement is the Palio, the unique ninety-second horse race dating back to the Middle Ages. Despite the short duration of the actual race, the Palio does not end at the crossing of the finish line. Rather, the traditional running of the horses is the life-long passion of the Sienese people and is called by many "the soul of the city." The Palio is the emotional culmination of a year's hopes and endeavors, and, at the same instant, a ceremonious initiation into the next year's race. It provides an electrifying spectacle which draws crowd of more than 60,000 people behind the medieval walls of Siena each summer.
According to anthropologist Alessandro Falassi, a native of Siena, "the Palio is felt as an omnipresent force in Sienese life. The Palios of the past are never forgotten, and the Palios of the future are constantly and anxiously awaited."
For the Sienese, who during the rest of the year live a rather isolated existence perched atop their Tuscan hilltop, the Palio is much more than just an exciting horse race. Since the Palio's first documented running in Sienna in 1238, the race has become part of the town's blood.
The race exists today much like it did during the Middle Ages. Each summer, just as the setting sun casts a glow upon the Palazzo Pubblico and its looming Mangia tower, ten horses and their jockeys race three times around the Piazza's specially prepared earth track. The Palio is run, as tradition dictates, in honor of the Virgin Mary. The winner of the race claims the much-coveted silk banner, also called the palio, portraying the Virgin and Child.
But what is it that makes this horse race so special? No doubt the pageantry and history alone are enough to stir interest in the short, exciting race, but there is more. The unique element that brings thousands to the overpacked, shell-shaped square each year is the question of which of Siena's seventeen contrade--or wards--will cross the finish line first and thus bring victory and honor home to its neighborhood.
The city's division into seventeen different contrade by Princess Violante of Bavaria in 1729 has resulted in fierce rivalry and competition among the Sienese. In this sense, the uniqueness of the Palio has both bound the Sienese together and bitterly divided them. They proudly consider themselves first and foremost members of their contrade and secondly citizens of Siena. This loyalty to the contrade is due to the fact that an individual is "born into" a contrada--generally the contrada of one's father. Those Sienese who live outside the walls of the old city--and therefore not within one of the seventeen designated contrade--may be "adopted" into the membership by baptism.
Each contrada has its own territorial boundaries which encompass a main street, church, clubhouse, and museum. The Sienese live within the contrada's neighborhoods, frequenting its bars and cafes, conversing in its streets, and forming lifelong friendships from among its membership. Distinguished by its
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