This past Monday was the Palio of Siena, a horse race held twice a year in celebration of the Virgin Mary, the patron saint of Siena. The August Palio is held in connection with the August 15th Feast of the Assumption and is generally viewed as the more important of the two Palios. I have been here for the Palio several times, but this time was different because my friend Aleesa from Toronto was here visiting, so I was able to experience it with her. Siena was the last stop on her European backpacking adventure before heading to Genoa to settle down, and I am so glad that she was able to fit it into her schedule. I really enjoyed showing her around the city and attending various Palio events with her. The Palio is a unique experience and is always intense, but this year I think it is safe to say that we witnessed an especially intense Palio.
Let me explain . . .

Out of the 17 contradas in Siena only 10 run in each Palio. (There is a rotation process set up that I haven't even attempted to try and understand!) Out of the 17 contradas there are also only 4 that have green in their colors. It is very rare for all 4 of the "green" contradas to run in a Palio together, so whenever this happens the race is referred to as a Palio of the Quattro Verde. There is a superstition attached to the Quattro Verde Palio; I was told by several locals that whenever the four green run together strange things, sometimes bad things, happen. Unfortunately, they were right. First, the horse of the Giraffa contrada was injured the day before the race, so they had to pull out. Then, at the celebratory dinner of the Civetta contrada the night before the race, a man was tragically killed when a large piece of stone fell from the balcony he was sitting under and hit him on the head. Finally, right before the race, when the flag bearers were performing their usual flag throwing routine, a strong gust of wind picked up the Civetta flag and blew it into the crowd in the piazza where the heavy handle came down on a girl's head. They had to postpone the race while the paramedics took her (unconscious) out of the crowd and an ambulance came to pick her up. Oddly enough, both the man who died and the injured girl were visitors, and both were from France. In the conversations I had about these events with locals they all blamed on the fact that is was a Quattro Verde Palio.

In addition to all of this, the race itself was more intense than usual because one of the strongest rivalries was running. Every contrada has an enemy but it seems like some rivalries are worse than others, including Valdimonte and Nicchio. When the horses were assigned, Valdimontne received the best horse - the horse that won the Palio in July. Once their enemy received the best horse Nicchio's only goal became preventing Valdimontone from winning. They went so far as to give their jockey, widely considered to be the best since he has won the Palio several times, to the contrada with the second-best horse, Tartuca. Then, Nicchio hired another jockey who did his best to unsettle the Valdimontone horse while they were all lining up before the race, and he did such a good job that a fight almost broke out between them before the race, and one did break out afterward. One lap into the race, Tartuca and Civetta (oddly enough the winners of the July and August Palios last year) were the only two with a chance to win, and even though Civetta almost caught Tartuca at the end, Tartuca won. So, in the end, Nicchio's gesture of giving Tartuca the best jockey paid off - they kept Valdimontone from winning.

Where was I in the middle of all of this? Well, Aleesa and I attended the trial race Sunday night, and then on Monday morning we went to San Domenico and watched the Drago contrada bring their horse to the church to be blessed. In the afternoon we went to the Duomo and watched the parade, which, I have to say, would have been far more enjoyable if we hadn't been squished up against the wall by the crowd! Then, instead of braving the massive horde of people in the Campo, we watched the race on television from the saftey of a cafe near the Duomo. When the race was over we went back to the Duomo to watch the winning contrada come and give thanks. It was a long, exhausting day, but it was also a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures from before the trial run Sunday evening; I'll try and upload some of the parade in the next few days! You can go here to see some pictures of the actual race: http://www.sienanews.it/galleria.aspx

A shot of the Palazzo Pubblico and the crowd - sorry for the shadows but it couldn't be helped!

More views of the crowd, and this is just a trial race. See why I don't want to be in the middle for the real thing?

Some lucky souls get to watch from balconies and windows.

These little boys were right in front of us and they were so cute that it was hard to be upset even if they were blocking our view!

The traditional cavalry charge before the race - they are quite a sight to see, charging around the Campo with their swords drawn. I would never want to witness a real cavalry charge in battle!