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A Horse Race for Tradition
| Article
# : |
16643 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
10 / 1989 |
1,670 Words |
| Author
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Jennifer Carnevale
Jennifer Carnevale is a freelance writer. She is presently a
student at Hunter College. She spent six months in Siena in
1988. |
Twice a year, on July 2 and August 16, the usually reserved banking city of Siena, Italy, erupts in a fury of vivid colors, drumbeats, and chanting which echoes throughout its narrow stone streets and moves toward the city's center, the immense Piazza del Campo.
The cause of the excitement is the Palio, the unique ninety-second horse race dating back to the Middle Ages. Despite the short duration of the actual race, the Palio does not end at the crossing of the finish line. Rather, the traditional running of the horses is the life-long passion of the Sienese people and is called by many "the soul of the city." The Palio is the emotional culmination of a year's hopes and endeavors, and, at the same instant, a ceremonious initiation into the next year's race. It provides an electrifying spectacle which draws crowd of more than 60,000 people behind the medieval walls of Siena each summer.
According to anthropologist Alessandro Falassi, a native of Siena, "the Palio is felt as an omnipresent force in Sienese life. The Palios of the past are never forgotten, and the Palios of the future are constantly and anxiously awaited."
For the Sienese, who during the rest of the year live a rather isolated existence perched atop their Tuscan hilltop, the Palio is much more than just an exciting horse race. Since the Palio's first documented running in Sienna in 1238, the race has become part of the town's blood.
The race exists today much like it did during the Middle Ages. Each summer, just as the setting sun casts a glow upon the Palazzo Pubblico and its
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