Telling the Palio of Siena is not easy. Apparently it’s a colorful horse race, held in Siena twice a year to honor the Virgin Mary. Ten horses representing the different quarters of the town (the “contrade”) fight each other running around Siena’s central square, ridden bareback, and they can win even if they unseated their jockey. The winner takes it all. An attraction for outsiders and tourists who watch incredulously. Yet, after five hundred years, whether you love it or not, the Palio still speaks a lot about us Italians, even of those who don't wear a contrada’s handkerchief around the neck. Looking at the Sienese, you see that what really matters is that mixture of sacred and profane, tradition and rivalry, victory or disgrace. The choirs between opposing peoples, the waiting, the silence before the move, the tumultuous moments of the race, the joy and tears.
In the Palio you find the life of each contrada, marked by a strong sense of belonging and brotherhood, the taking care of the weakest and the ability to transmit these values to the new generations. On these days you may find in Siena ten small churches (those of the quarters selected for the race) where a priest with a handkerchief blesses a horse and dismisses him, with his voice broken by emotion, calling him by name and saying: «Go! And come back as winner!». And finally you understand that, to tell the Palio, those few words sung by each Sienese are enough: “…For strength and for love you must respect it…!”. The strength of each one's identity and the love among sister contradas which, together, bring the Palio to life and make Siena so unique.
