The Palio di Siena (pronounced [ˈpaːljo di ˈsjɛːna]; known locally simply as Il Palio; from Latin pallium) is a horse race held twice each year, on 2 July and 16 August, in Siena, Italy. Ten horses and riders, bareback and dressed in the appropriate colours, represent ten of the seventeen contrade, or city wards, in a tradition dating back to the 17th century. The Palio held on 2 July is named Palio di Provenzano, in honour of the Madonna of Provenzano, a Marian devotion particular to Siena which developed around an icon from the Terzo Camollia area of the city. The Palio held on 16 August is named Palio dell'Assunta, in honour of the Assumption of Mary.
Of seventeen wards, or contrade, in the comune of Siena, only ten compete in each Palio. The seven contrade that did not take part in that month of the previous year are automatically included; three more are chosen by draw. The Corteo Storico, a pageant to the sound of the March of the Palio, precedes the race, which attracts visitors and spectators from around the world.
The race itself, in which the jockeys ride bareback, circles the Piazza del Campo, on which a thick layer of earth has been laid. The race is run for three laps of the piazza and usually lasts no more than 90 seconds. It is common for a few of the jockeys to be thrown off their horses while making the treacherous turns in the piazza, and indeed, it is not unusual to see riderless horses finishing the race. A horse is not required to have a rider to win the race.
The most recent winner of the Palio was Nicchio, the seashell, on August 18, 2026, with the rider Giovanni Atzeni known as Tittia and his horse, Anda e Bola. This was the first win for Nicchio since 1998.
The earliest known antecedents of the race are medieval. The town's central piazza was the site of public games, largely combative: pugna, a sort of many-sided boxing match or brawl; jousting; and in the 16th century, bullfights. Public races organized by the contrade were popular from the 14th century onwards; called palio alla lunga, they were run across the whole city.
The race continued to develop over centuries. When the Grand Duke of Tuscany outlawed bullfighting in 1590, the contrade took to organizing races in the Piazza del Campo. The first such races were on buffalo-back and called bufalate; asinate, races on donkey-back, later took their place, while horse racing continued elsewhere. The first modern Palio (called palio alla tonda to distinguish it from the earlier palio alla lunga) took place in 1633. In 1729, the city's Munich-born governor, Violante of Bavaria, defined formal boundaries for the contrade, at the same time imposing several mergers so that the number of Sienese contrade was reduced to seventeen. This was also the year of the decree restricting the number of contrade that could participate in a Palio to ten; the restriction, which remains in force, resulted from the number and extent of accidents experienced in the preceding races.
Introduction of second annual race
At first, one race was held each year, on 2 July but a second race was added in 1701 on 16 August. Initially, the August race was run intermittently rather than every year. The August race, il palio dell'Assunta, coincided with the Feast of the Assumption, and was probably introduced spontaneously as part of the feasting and celebration associated with this important festival. The date 16 August was presumably chosen because the other days of the mid-August canonical festival, the 14th and 15th of the month, were already taken up respectively by the Procession of the Cross, Corteo dei Ceri, and by the census.
The August Palio started out as an extension of the celebrations of the July Palio and was organized and funded by July's winning contrada, though only if the contrada in question could afford it. After 1802, however, organisation and funding the August race became a central responsibility of the city, which removed annual uncertainty over whether or not an August Palio would run. It has been held at least since 15 August 1581 when 15 year old jockey Virginia Tacci was the first female to ride a steed in the race.
The first race, Palio di Provenzano is held on 2 July, which is both the Feast of the Visitation and the date of a local festival in honour of the Madonna of Provenzano, a sculpture of the Virgin Mary once owned by the Sienese leader Provenzano Salvani, which was supposed to have miraculous curative power. The second race, Palio dell'Assunta, is held on 16 August, the day after the Feast of the Assumption. After exceptional events (e.g., the Apollo 11 Moon landing) and on important anniversaries (e.g., the centennial of the Unification of Italy), the Sienese community may decide to hold a third Palio between May and September. The most recent was in 2018 to celebrate the anniversary of the end of WWI.
Private owners, some jockeys, offer the pick of their stables, selected during the year after trial races, other Palio races in Italy and veterinary examination, from which main representatives of the participating contrade, the Capitani, choose ten of approximately equal quality, three days before the race. A lottery then determines which horse will run for each contrada. This lottery is held during the four days of the festival, to select which barbero (the term for racehorse in the city of Siena and Tuscany) will go to which contrada.
Corruption (bribery) is commonplace, prompting the residents of each contrada, known as contradaioli, to keep a close watch on their stable and their rider. The horses are of mixed breed; no purebred horses are allowed.
In each race, only ten of the seventeen contrade participate: the seven which did not participate in the previous year's Palio and three others chosen by lottery. The lottery assigns jockeys from each contrada to the ten selected horses. Not every contrade will participate in the annual Palii. The draw, or estrazione, occurs at 7:30 PM on the last Sunday of May for the June race, and at the beginning of July for the August race. The draw consists of three trumpeters, known as chianire, who play from the windows of city hall. At the end of the trumpet song, the randomly drawn flags of the contrade selected for that race are displayed out of the windows.
Six trial races are run, the first on the evening of the horse selection and the last on the morning before the Palio, during which the riders have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with their horse and with the track itself. The trials, Prova, are held the evening of the horse lottery and twice daily for the next two days. Attended by many tourists and contrada members in square, barriers are mounted on the outside of the track making it difficult to move freely throughout the square.
The children of the contrade are assembled in bleachers to sing closest to city hall during the trials. During the race, the bleachers are reserved primarily for adults. Children are no longer allowed to stand in the middle of the piazza during the race, and can only view from a bleacher or window.
The race is preceded by a spectacular pageant to the sound of the March of the Palio, the Corteo Storico, which includes flag wavers, or alfieri, in medieval costumes. Just before the pageant, a squad of carabinieri on horseback, wielding swords, demonstrate a mounted charge around the track. They take one lap at a walk, in formation, and a second at a gallop that foreshadows the excitement of the race to come, before exiting down one of the streets that leads out of Piazza del Campo. Spectators arrive early in the morning, eventually filling the centre of the town square, normally to capacity. The local police seal the entrances once festivities begin. Seats ranging from simple bleachers to elaborate box seats may be purchased before the event to watch the race.
At 7:30 p.m. for the July race, and 7 p.m. for the August race, the detonation of an explosive charge echoes across the piazza, signaling to the thousands of onlookers that the race is about to begin. The race itself runs for three laps of the Piazza del Campo, the perimeter of which is covered with several inches of dirt, imported and laid for the occasion at great expense to the cit, and the corners of which are protected with padded crash barriers for the occasion. The jockeys ride the horses bareback from the starting line, an area between two ropes. Nine horses, in an order only decided by lot immediately before the race starts, enter the space. The tenth, the rincorsa, waits outside. When the rincorsa finally enters the space between the ropes the starter (mossiere) activates a mechanism that instantly drops the canapo (the front rope). This process (the mossa) can take a very long time, as deals have usually been made between various contrade and jockeys that affect when the rincorsa moves—he may be waiting for a particular other horse to be well—or badly-placed, for example.