PALIO!

I decided to sit it out in the hot sun at the San Martino Bend this time, in order to ensure a great position. I arrived just after one- here is a picture of the tiny bit of shade offered to us at about 3pm, when the shadow of the Torre del Mangia passes to give some relief.  A long, hot day but with plenty of cameraderie. My crowd were not really tourists- well, some were from other parts of Italy- my neighbour by the railing was a girl from Livorno in Tuscany who comes here every year, and on the other side were a young couple from Verona, who had just spent their honey moon in Sweden. In other words there was plenty of opportunity to practise my Italian while the sun was beating down on us; while the balconies and the Campo was filling up, and while we all awaited the arrival of the Carabinieri- the mounted Police in their nineteenth century uniforms, who traditionally begins the Palio festivities. This year the Capitano was a woman!

Then began the Corteo Storico, the great Parade that includes representation in the form of flags, coats of arms and regalia from all the 17 existing Contradas and also from the several Contradas that no longer exist;  the alfieris and drummers as well as the  horses that are about to run the race.  These ancient suits of armour and weaponry are normally proudly displayed in the Museums of the Contradas. 

                                                 

And then,  as the shade finally arrived at last the Campo was ready for the big event...

But this proved difficult... The Palio was beset by problems this time- First of all, only eight horses were admitted at the starting point; two having been excluded for safety reasons, since they had suffered minor injuries during the trial run.  But that was not all: the race took nearly an hour to get going: it included four false starts, during which two more horses were eliminated- one because his jockey fell off and had to be carried away on a stretcher, and another because of another injury.  Here below we see 'Tittia', the most famous jockey, or fantino, at the San Martino bend during one of the false starts. He rode Zio Frac for the DRAGO Contrada, and eventually managed to arrive victorious in a photo finish over the Torre Contrada, to my great delight- I saw Tittia win the July 2019 Palio for Giraffa...

And today they were all out celebrating, doing the ceremonial parade through town to all the other Contradas while carrying their precious Palio, which this time was painted by the English painter Emma Sargeant.