il Palio

On Friday, I had to opportunity to take a step back in time and experience a rich piece of Italian history. I went with several of my friends to the city of Siena to experience one of the oldest horse races in the world, which has been taking place since medieval times. It is a huge ordeal, and it occurs twice a year: once in July and again in August.

The city of Siena is divided into 17 districts, or contrade, which are city neighborhoods originally formed as battalions for the city's defense. Each race, only 10 of the contrade compete, and the other 7 will get a chance the next race, with 3 from the first race returning (determined from the drawing from a hat).

The entire city bustles for days before the event, and is an explosion of activity the day of the race. Each contrade parades through their district during the day leading up to the race. The main square (or piazza) in the center of the city, known as il Campo, is where the race takes place. Thousands of people will pack into the center of the piazza, and the horse track surrounds the crowd. We showed up around 4:00 are somehow were able to grab a spot near the rail. We talked to a guy next to us from Italy who had been by the rail since 10:30 that morning in order to have a good spot.

Around 5:30, the parades started around the track. Everyone was dressed in their original medieval garb, and there were displays of the medieval weapons, armor, and all that sort of cool stuff. It was very interesting to see. Each contrade does the same routine, but with 17 of them, it takes a long time. There are drummers, flag bearers, a guy in full armor, the race horse from the district, and others for each contrade.

After 2 hours of continuous parading, the race horses finally came out. Let me a take a moment to try and describe how bizarre and unique this race is. They race the opposite direction of most horse races, the jockeys all ride bareback, they are encouraged to use their whips and canes on the OTHER drivers, bribing and sabotage are fully expected, alliances and agreements form between groups, there are political motives behind each transaction, it is one of the biggest gambling events in the world, and the race itself often lasts no more than 60 seconds (since it is only 3 laps around the piazza).

When the announcer finally declares the starting line up (since there is money exchanging to decide who starts where), the crowd is completely silent. Once the lineup is announced, the jockeys attempt to line up, but at the same time get an advantage over the other horses. Some try and start standing sideways, there is tons of shoving, hitting, and pushing around, and often times they just pull back and start the lineup all over again. It took about 30 minutes for the jockeys to finally get lined up. Once the last rider decides he likes the looks of the lineup, he will come charging in from behind and the race begins. It is one of the most suspenseful and exciting starts to a race or sports event I have ever experienced.

(I will try and post some videos I took from the day... Until then here is a link to a video of the race taken by the professionals. I was next to the rail on the padded corner of the race.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cqNmPK-U94

Oh yea, I forgot to mention that after the race the winner contrade and his rival contrade fight. There is lots of fighting in the streets, and honestly it is a little scary place to be. We followed a trail of blood up one of the streets when we trying to get back to the train station.

Overall, it was an incredible experience, and I can say I've been packed in with thousands of people at one of the biggest and oldest sporting events in the world. Pretty cool.

Ciao!
Taylor