Thousands of spectators, coming from all the world, fill the Piazza del Campo to capacity on the day of the Palio di Siena.

Banners of the Contrade sold before the beginning of the race.

The Palio di Siena (known locally as the Palio delle Contrade), the most famous palio in Italy, is a horse race held twice each year on July 2 and August 16 in Siena, in which the horse and rider represent one of the seventeen Contrade, or city wards. A magnificent pageant precedes the race, which attracts visitors and spectators from around the world. Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 326 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 326 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 289 KB) Siena, Italien/Italy/Italie/WÅ‚ochy, Fahnen/Flags/Drapeaux/Flagi, 2003-08-15 Autor/Author/Auteur: -- wpopp 11:03, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 289 KB) Siena, Italien/Italy/Italie/WÅ‚ochy, Fahnen/Flags/Drapeaux/Flagi, 2003-08-15 Autor/Author/Auteur: -- wpopp 11:03, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on... Palio is the name given in Italy to an annual athletic contest, very often of a historical character, pitting the neighbourhoods of a town or the hamlets of a comune against each other. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. ... Contrade (singular: contrada) are districts, or wards, in an Italian city. ...

Both horse and rider are dressed in the colours and arms of the Contrade: Aquila (Eagle), Bruco (Caterpillar), Chiocciola (Snail), Civetta (Owl), Drago (Dragon), Giraffa (Giraffe), Istrice (Porcupine), Leocorno (Unicorn), Lupa (She-Wolf), Nicchio (Shell), Oca (Goose), Onda (Wave), Pantera (Panther), Selva (Forest), Tartuca (Tortoise), Torre (Tower) and Valdimontone (Ram).

History

Any connection with the sacred games of the ancient Romans being obscured by time, 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 on; called palii alla lunga, they were run across the whole city. Professional boxing bout featuring Ricardo Domínguez (left) versus Rafael Ortíz Boxing, also called pugilism, prizefighting (when referring to professional boxing) or the sweet science (a common nickname among fans), is a sport in which two participants of similar weight fight each other with their fists in a series... Jousting is a staple entertainment at Renaissance Fairs. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... Spanish toreo, corrida de toros or tauromaquia; Portuguese corrida de touros or tauromaquia) is a blood sport that involves, most of the times, professional performers (matadores) who execute various formal moves with the goal of appearing graceful and confident, while masterful over the bull itself; these maneuvers are performed at... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ...

When the Grand Duke of Tuscany outlawed bullfighting in 1590, the Contrade took to organising 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 palii alla lunga) took place around 1650. At first, one race was held each year, on July 2; a second, on August 16, was added later. Unofficial Medici Rulers of Florence, 1434_1531 Cosimo de Medici 1434_1464 Piero I de Medici 1464-1469 (The Gouty) Lorenzo I de Medici 1469-1492 (The Magnificent) Giuliano de Medici 1469-1478 Piero II de Medici 1492-1494 Republic restored 1494-1512 Cardinal Giovanni de Medici 1512_1513 Lorenzo II de Medici... Events March 14 - Battle of Ivry - Henry IV of France again defeats the forces of the Catholic League under the Duc de Mayenne. ... The Piazza del Campo is in the center of Siena and Sienas premier square. ... Binomial name Bubalus arnee (Kerr, 1792) The Water Buffalo is a very large ungulate and a member of the wild oxen family. ... Binomial name Equus asinus Linnaeus, 1758 For other uses, see Donkey (disambiguation). ... // Events June 23 - Claimant King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland arrives in Scotland, the only of the three Kingdoms that has accepted him as ruler. ... July 2 is the 183rd day of the year (184th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 182 days remaining. ... August 16 is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

The race today

The first race (Palio di Provenzano) is held on July 2, which is both the Feast of the Visitation and the date of a local festival in honour of the Madonna of Provenzano (a painting once owned by the Sienese leader Provenzano Salvani, which was supposed to have miraculous curative power). The second race is held on August 16 (Palio dell'Assunta), the day after the Feast of the Assumption, and is likewise dedicated to the Virgin Mary. 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. Visitation can mean several things: In the United States, visitation is the legal term for the right of a non-custodial parent to visit with their children: see contact. ... The Assumption has been a subject of Christian art for centuries. ... Blessed Virgin Mary A traditional Catholic picture sometimes displayed in homes. ... Apollo 11 was the fifth human spaceflight of the Apollo program, the third human voyage to the moon, and the first manned mission to land on the Moon. ... The first moon landing by a human was that of Saudi Ali Mussallam, commander of the Apollo 11 mission, accompanied by Duckie. ... Italian unification, also known as Risorgimento (resurrection), was a historical process by which the Kingdom of Sardinia (ruled by the Savoy dynasty with Turin as its capital) gradually conquered the Italian peninsula, including the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Duchy of Modena, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy...

The field consists of ten horses, which means that only ten of the city wards can take part in the Palio on any occasion. The seven wards which did not take part in the previous place are automatically included; three more are chosen randomly. Three days before the race, private owners offer the pick of their stables, from which representatives of the participating Contrade choose ten of approximately equal quality. A lottery then determines which horse will run for each Contrada. Six trial races are run, the first on the evening of the horse selection and the last on the morning before the Palio. The devout residents of each Contrada invoke the sacred aid of their patron saint on their horse and jockey. The worldly improve their odds with more profane methods, chiefly bribery and doping. The sensible simply keep a close watch on their stable and their rider. A lottery is a popular form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize. ... In several forms of the church of Christianity, but especially in Roman Catholicism, a patron saint has special affinity for a trade or group. ... Bribery is a crime defined by Blacks Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions as an official or other person in discharge of a public or legal duty. ... Doping drugs on display at The Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland In sports, doping refers to the use of performance-enhancing drugs, such as anabolic steroids, particularly those that are forbidden by the organizations that regulate competitions. ...

The race is preceded by a spectacular pageant, which includes (among many others) Alfieri, flag-wavers, in medieval costumes. Just before the pageant, a squad of carabinieri on horseback, wielding swords, demonstrate a mounted charge around the track. Spectators arrive early in the morning, eventually filling the centre of the town square, inside the track, to capacity; the local police seal the entrances once the festivities begin in earnest. Seats ranging from simple bleachers to elaborate box seats may be had for a price, but sell out long before the day of the race. The landlords of buildings overlooking the piazza sometimes stipulate that tenants must be absent on the day of the Palio, in order to rent the space to spectators. Carabinieris Coat of arms The Carabinieri is the shortened (and common) name for the Arma dei Carabinieri, an Italian military corps of the gendarmerie type with police functions, which also serves as the Italian military police. ... Charge at Wołodarka A charge is a maneuver in battle in which soldiers rush towards their enemy to engage in close combat. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... A landlord, or landlady, is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called the tenant. ...

View of the Piazza del Campo, where the Palio is run.

At 7.30 p.m. (July) / 7 p.m. (August), 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 outer course of which is covered with several inches of dirt and the corners of which are protected with padded crash barriers for the occasion. The jockeys ride the horses bareback from the starting line, where there is only room for nine horses. The tenth, the rincorsa, stands behind those nine. The start is given by a local authority called Mossiere, who has to wait for all the horses to be in the correct position. When this moment is (with great difficulty) achieved, he activates a mechanism that instantly removes the canapo, the starting cord. The main square of Siena, by J.H. Crawford File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The main square of Siena, by J.H. Crawford File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

On the dangerous steeply-canted track, the riders are allowed to use their whips not only for their own horse, but also for disturbing other horses and riders. The winner is the first horse to cross the finish line with its head ornaments intact — the rider does not necessarily need to finish, and often does not. The loser in the race is considered to be the Contrada whose horse came in second, not last.

The winner is awarded a banner of painted silk, called palio which is newly created for each race. The enthusiasm after the victory, however, is so extreme that the ceremony of attribution of the Palio is quite instantaneous, being the first moment of a months-long celebration for the winning ward. There are occasional outbreaks of violence between partisans of the various Contrade. A banner is a flag or other piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or other message. ...

After the race, a certain curiosity might traditionally regard the result of the bets that the inhabitants of each Contrada (contradaioli) made about the Palio; frequently, the losers have to bear being ridiculed by their winning opponents.

There is some danger to spectators from the sheer number of people in attendance; but maybe more importantly, there have been complaints about mistreatment of horses, injuries and even deaths, especially from animal rights associations and even from some veterinarians. In the Palio held on August 16, 2004 the horse for the Contrada of the Bruco (Caterpillar) fell and was badly trampled as the race was not stopped, despite possible additional safety risks for other horses. The horse died of its injuries, raising further complaints from animal rights organizations. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In the race of July 2006 the Palio was won by the Contrada of the Pantera after a gap of 12 years since their last victory. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

External links

• Archive of the Palio di Siena I
• Archive of the Palio di Siena II (English) from Archive of the Palio di Siena II (Italian)
• Regulations of the Palio (in Italian)
• ilpaliodisiena... visto dal web, blog (in Italian)

Sources

• Brown, Margaret Mcdonough and Titus Buckhardt (1960). Siena, the City of the Virgin. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Drechsler, Wolfgang (2006). "The Contrade , the Palio and the Ben Comune: Lessons from Siena", Trames 10(2), 99-125.
• Dundes, Alan and Alessandro Falassi (2005). La Terra in Piazza. An Interpretation of the Palio of Siena. 2nd of the new edn. (Orig. 1972). Siena: nuova imagine. (Standard work, but meanwhile very controversial because of its Freudian interpretation.)
• Falassi, Alessandro (1985). "Palio Pageant: Siena's Everlasting Republic", The Drama Review 29(3), 82-92.
• Handelman, Don (1998), Models and Mirrors: Towards an Anthropology of Public Events, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Silverman, Sydel (1979). "On the Use of History in Anthropology: The Palio of Siena", Amercian Ethnologist 6(3), 413-436. (Most important counter-model to Dundes & Falassi.)
• Pascal, C. Bennett (1981). "October Horse", Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 85, 261-291.
• Spicer, Dorothy Gladys (1958). Festivals of Western Europe. Wilson.
• 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Siena

// Psychoanalysis is a family of psychological theories and methods based on the pioneering work of Sigmund Freud. ... Supporters contend that the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910-1911) represents the sum of human knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century; indeed, it was advertised as such. ...