Palio di Siena 16 August 2024: the Career Regulations

Palio di Siena 16 August 2024: the Career Regulations

What are the rules of the Palio di Siena scheduled for today, August 16, 2024? The “career” has few but precise rules. In the race, ten of the seventeen contrade into which the city of Siena is divided compete in turns, so that no one skips two in a row. Which contrade will take part in the Palio on August 16, 2024? Seven of these will compete by right: Selva, Lupa, Valdimontone, Onda, Nicchio, Leocorno and Civetta. The remaining three were drawn last July 7: they are Chiocciola, Oca and Istrice.

The “career” cannot be considered a simple horse race: it is also a real medieval joust where everything is allowed (even being bribed by “colleagues-adversaries”) and it is a clash between districts, vindictive and – sometimes – even violent. In the square each district is represented by a jockey and a horse. The latter is considered the true representative of the district, since it can win even when “scosso”, that is, without having its jockey on its back. The jockeys are paid thousands of euros by the districts that hire them, but there are no rules that prohibit them from being “bribed”… The horses, on the other hand, are assigned to the districts randomly.

The race

After the final flag-waving by the participants on the track, the horses make their entrance into Piazza del Campo (Siena) and they go to the height of the Costarella dei Barbieri alley for the start. At that point the “mossiere” (the person in charge of managing and validating the start, the key moment of the race) receives a sealed letter from a traffic policeman containing the order of entry of the horses into the ropes drawn a few moments before. The order of entry is very important if not decisive: the position between the ropes can increase or decrease the chances of victory.

But how does the start work? The start is with a chasing horse (the tenth called by the starter) who, positioned outside the ropes, decides when to enter and start the race: everything can happen in a few minutes or after hours. Why? Usually the chasing jockey decides to start the Palio when the horses of one or more rival districts are badly positioned to gain the maximum advantage in terms of victory. Once started, the horses – with or without a jockey (falls often occur) – must do three laps of the square in a clockwise direction. Whoever crosses the “finish line” first wins the Palio.