Events of the Palio

Buon Giorno, Tutti!

Ah, what an exciting week we're having! It's been a little crazy on me, personally, with the chaos of homesickness-culture shock, plus the Palio frenzy which takes over the city. It's possible your child doesn't sense this at all - even after returning to Italy every year since 1995, I'm still sensitive to these emotions (maybe because I'm recently married . . .).

The weather here has been gorgeous! Cool in the mornings, a continuous breeze, and raining every afternoon. For those of us who don't mind feeling like wet rats (or even Tony-Brent-Will, who did a picnic in the rain . . . PAZZI), we enjoy the coolness of the rain and the freshness of the evenings after the rain. In the center of town is the one large square, Il Campo (una piazza), where people may meet up in the evenings, and random events happen there throughout the summer (band or choir concerts, etc.). After it rains, there's almost a hazy quality of Il Campo, because the bricks are steaming off the rainwater. Also, there is a great drainage system in town. Nowhere does water really sit for longer than a few minutes, as the entire city is built on two hills, and the roads are even designed to direct water into small rivulets in the center. All the water runs down roads in the most efficient path, all towards the Campo, where there's a huge drain right at the bottom (center of the bottom of the shell).

The shell can be found throughout the city, and is super-important. The Campo itself is in the shape of a shell, fountains have the shell collecting the falling water . . . Siena was the last stop for pilgrims as they made their way to Rome, back since early medieval times, and the shell was the welcoming symbol of baptism for them as they made their last break before getting to Rome. How similar it is for us, feeling like children (nay, babies), as we learn a new language, and learn to live with new families for this brief time! But this, too, is a much-needed break from the business of our American lives, a way to help us recenter and find ourselves before we return home to take on our last year (or two years) of high school, before entering the world.

The rain has brought a little excitement to the Palio events, too - there are several practice runs (prove) which happen between the selection and the actual race (which happens around 7:45 PM on Thursday - you can actually find it online, and watch it in real time). Each evening, there's a prova at 7:45, and each morning, there's one at 9 AM (but we're in class). On Monday night, the Campo was a mud pit because of the rain, so there was no race (which is a big deal - lots of myths behind each race - if anything bad happens during the Prima Prova, something bad will happen at the actual race . . . you've got to imagine how people feel when it's been rained out!). The kids hear large "boom" noises in the mornings during classes - there's a cannon-type thing they use to give signals to the crowd. It booms when it's time to clear people from the track. It booms when it's time to bring the horses out from their holding area, it booms every time there's a false start (usually 7 - 10 times during the actual race), and it booms when the first horse crosses the finish line. The race itself is only three laps around the Campo (about 1.5 minutes), but the events leading up to the race take 4 days!!!

If you know horses (I grew up in Midland, with friends who had them), you know how terrible the Palio event is for the actual horses. Thousands of people sitting or standing around, cheering and yelling. Some large booming noise. Ten horses fitting on a track the width of about 8 horses. Lining up the horses takes longer than any race - the official reads out the contrada's names in the order of lineup, from one to ten. Position one has a good spot, as they're on the inside of the track. And position ten has a great spot, because he actually determines when the race starts. Once the nine other horses are lined up, the position ten can wait-circle around as much as he wants, then, runs in, and the race starts. While in lineup, jockeys are hitting each other, and bumping horses against each other. If one of the jockeys has a nervous horse, sometimes it falls completely out of line, and they have to all exit and re-line-up.

Then there are the 1.5 minutes when the race actually is happening. The Campo, in the shape of a shell, has two sharp corners which they have to take. One, corner, San Martino, is the most dangerous, and a spot where many jockeys are thrown. Last year, a jockey fell off into the crowd because his horse took the corner too sharp, and caught the jockey's leg against the turning post. There are medics in bright green everywhere near San Martino (there's a church just behind there dedicated to the same saint), if you look at pictures of the Palio, ready to pick up any fallen jockeys. As long as they're not too hurt, it's no big deal - the horse is who wins the race, anyways.

I'll encourage your kiddos to attend all the Palio events tomorrow:
Benedicione dello Cavallo: 2:30 - each competing contrada has the blessing of the horse in the contrada's church. Seriously - they take the horse into the church (everyone's shooshing and quieting everyone else, yelling at tourists who are using flash, etc.), where it receives a blessing and communion.
La passegiata storica: Everyone processes from their home church to the Duomo, the church of the city, where the bishop sits at his window and puts a blessing onto each horse and the contrada. Representative flag throwers and drummers do a flag-tossing routine. Then, a large lineup of people in garb from the Middle Ages process - representatives of every town in Tuscany, representatives of qualities (virtues), and representatives of each contrada, with their horse. Everyone (after the parade passes, the locals follow behind) processes down into the Campo from there, to have the parade circle around the campo, and exit.
Il Palio: The Palio is in that procession, and it's lifted up and posted in the corner near San Martino. For an extended period of time, flag throwers and drummers circle on the track in the Campo, doing their routines for the crowd. Then is the race. Like the prove, they must process out, then line up in the given order, then, after about 1.5 or 2 hours of false starts, they have the 1.5 minute race.

I will be letting you know who wins on Friday! Draco seems to have a pretty strong horse - it took off with a great start. Lupa's horse had good consistency in speed, as well as the Owl's group.

al' Venerdi!
L :)