The Palio di Siena explained: what it is and what it is not

The short answer

The Palio di Siena is a horse race round the Piazza del Campo, the main square of Siena, organised by the Comune di Siena.[1] The city's Palio regulation fixes two races a year, on 2 July and 16 August, marking the feasts of the Visitation and the Assumption of the Virgin, Siena's patron.[5] Ten of the city's seventeen contrade take part each time, and the jockeys ride bareback for three laps of the square.[1]

It is easy to describe and easy to misread. It is not open to all seventeen contrade, the horses are not chosen by the contrade, the winner can be a horse without a rider, and the prize is a painted silk banner rather than a cup.

The contrade: districts, not teams

A contrada is a district of the city. The Comune's Palio site defines the contrade as portions of municipal territory inside the city walls, and says that whoever is born in one is a contradaiolo, with the duty and right to take part in its life. Their exact origin is undocumented, but the same page cites evidence of them from the mid-15th century; there were 42 in the 14th century, reduced to just over twenty after the plague of 1348.[6]

Today's seventeen were fixed in 1729, when Governor Violante Beatrice of Bavaria issued a proclamation on their boundaries, and the city's site says they have not changed since: Aquila, Bruco, Chiocciola, Civetta, Drago, Giraffa, Istrice, Leocorno, Lupa, Nicchio, Oca, Onda, Pantera, Selva, Tartuca, Torre and Valdimontone. Since 1894 they have had a joint body, the Magistrato delle Contrade, to deal with the Palio and their common affairs.[7]

The race in its present form is younger than the contrade. The Comune's history page says the first Palio run round the course in the Piazza del Campo seems to date from 1633, succeeding horse races through the streets that usually ended in Piazza del Duomo, and counts 385 Palii run in the Campo by the present contrade up to June 2013.[8]

Who runs: seven by right, three by draw

Each race has ten of the seventeen contrade. The Comune's page sets out how they are chosen: the seven contrade that did not run in the same race the previous year run by right, and three more are drawn from the ten that did. For July the draw takes place on the last Sunday of May; for August, on the first Sunday after the July race.[1] The race description on the same site says only that the draw is held at least twenty days before each Palio.[2]

The horses are drawn by lot

The contrade choose their jockeys but not their horses.[1] On the morning of the third day before each race, the tratta takes place: owners present their horses in the courtyard of the town hall, a veterinary team appointed by the Comune examines them, and they are tried in heats round the square. The captains of the contrade then pick the ten judged fit, and each is assigned to a contrada by lot.[1][2]

Six trial races follow over the next three days, the fifth called the "prova generale" and the sixth, on the morning of the race, the "provaccia". On race day the jockeys are formally signed in at the town hall, after which, the Comune's page says, they can no longer be replaced, and each contrada's horse is blessed in the contrada's own oratory.[2]

The Comune also describes rules on the horses' welfare. Its "Tutela del cavallo" page says that since 1999 it has run blood tests to enforce the regulation's ban on stimulants, depressants and local anaesthetics, fitted a high-absorption protective barrier at the San Martino bend, and kept a register of horses trained for the course, with vets from a municipal technical commission monitoring them; since 1991 retired Palio horses can go to a rest home at Radicondoli.[12]

The race itself

The race is preceded by the historical procession (corteo storico), a parade of the contrade and of figures representing the institutions of the old Republic of Siena. The Comune's two pages put its size differently: one says over 600 figures take part, the procession's own page almost seven hundred in 14 groups.[1] The banner that is the prize rides in the procession on a triumphal cart, the carroccio.[9]

Then the start. Two ropes (canapi) are stretched across the course, and the order in which the contrade line up between them is drawn by lot. Nine go between the ropes in that order; the tenth waits behind and enters "di rincorsa", at a run, choosing the moment the race starts. The horses cover three laps, which the Comune's page puts at about 1,000 metres, and only first place counts. A horse that has lost its jockey, a cavallo "scosso", can still win for its contrada.[2]

The regulation also sets a rule on conduct: any arrangement aimed at making one contrada win rather than another is prohibited.[5]

The prize is a painted banner

The winning contrada receives the Palio itself, a painted silk banner (drappellone) that, the regulation says, gives the festival its name.[5] Each one is an original painting on silk. The Comune's page explains that the July banner is dedicated to the Madonna of Provenzano and painted by a Sienese artist, and the August one to the Assumption and painted by an artist from outside Siena.[10] After the race the winners carry it to give thanks: to the church of Provenzano in July, to the cathedral in August.[2]

The dates are fixed, the day can move

The regulation's fixed dates are not a guarantee of the day. It lets the municipal authority postpone the race to the next day, and further if bad weather continues, when rain falls during the procession or has made the track unsafe. It also allows extraordinary Palii outside the two dates, for events of particular importance; the City Council decides on one only if at least ten contrade have agreed to take part.[5]

2026 showed how far the day can move. The Comune's page for the Palio of 2 July 2026 reports it as run on 3 July and won by the Aquila contrada, with a banner painted by Ismaele Nones.[13] Its page for the Palio of 16 August 2026 reports that race as run on 18 August and won by the Nicchio, with a banner painted by Teodora Axente.[14]

Watching it: what the city's pages say

There is no central ticket office. The Comune's information page says the Palio, and the trial races of the three days before it, can be watched free of charge from inside the Piazza del Campo, provided you enter before access is closed. Seats on the stands (palchi) round the square, windows and balconies are paid, and the same page says spectators must deal directly with the stand managers, the palcaioli, or with the owners of flats overlooking the square.[3]

The access leaflet the Comune published for 16 August 2026 sets the rules for the square on race day. It names Via Duprè as the only entrance during the access window, until the square reaches its maximum number of people; it bars children under 10 from the square even when accompanied by adults; and it bans dogs, chairs and stools, glass or metal containers, alcoholic drinks and frozen bottles.[4] Those rules were published for one race. The Palio site's information page is where the Comune posts the current access document, the programme times and the Palio office's contacts.[3]

What XTOUR does not tell you

XTOUR does not sell or list Palio seats, does not know stand or window prices, and does not publish timings, crowd conditions, accessibility or safety advice for race days. It does not know the contrade drawn or the painters chosen for 2027. For Siena's other sights, see the Siena destination page and the comparison of Florence, Pisa or Siena as a Tuscan base.