The first race,
Palio di Provenzano is held on 2 July, which is both the
Feast of the Visitation and the date of a local festival in honour of the
Madonna of Provenzano (a sculpture of the
Virgin Mary once owned by the Sienese leader
Provenzano Salvani, which was supposed to have miraculous curative power). The second race is held on 16 August (Palio dell'Assunta), the day after the Feast of the Assumption, and is likewise dedicated to the
Virgin Mary. After exceptional events (e.g., the
Apollo 11 Moon landing) and on important anniversaries (e.g., the centennial of the
Unification of Italy), the Sienese community may decide to hold a third Palio between May and September. The most recent was in 2018 to celebrate the anniversary of the end of WWI. The field consists of ten horses, so not all seventeen
contrade can take part in the Palio on any occasion. The seven contrade that did not take part in that month of the previous year are automatically included; three more are chosen by draw. The draw, also known as the
extraction, occurs at 7:30 PM on a Sunday in the last days of May for the June race, and at the beginning of July for the August race. The draw consists of three
trumpeters, known as
chianire, who play from the windows of
city hall, and then display the randomly drawn flag of the
contrade selected for that race. Private owners, some jockeys, offer the pick of their stables, selected during the year after trial races, other Palio races in Italy and veterinary examination, from which main representatives of the participating
contrade, the
Capitani, choose ten of approximately equal quality, three days before the race. A
lottery then determines which horse will run for each
contrada. Six trial races are run, the first on the evening of the horse selection and the last on the morning before the Palio. Corruption (
bribery) is commonplace, prompting the residents of each
contrada, known as
contradaioli, to keep a close watch on their stable and their rider. The horses are of mixed breed; no purebred horses are allowed. '' of Siena during the Corteo Storico procession preceding the Palio of August 2006 The race is preceded by a spectacular pageant to the sound of the
March of the Palio, the Corteo Storico, which includes (among many others)
Alfieri, flag wavers, in medieval costumes. Just before the pageant, a squad of
carabinieri on horseback, wielding swords, demonstrate a mounted
charge around the track. They take one lap at a walk, in formation, and a second at a gallop that foreshadows the excitement of the race to come, before exiting down one of the streets that leads out of Piazza del Campo. Spectators arrive early in the morning, eventually filling the centre of the town square, inside the track, to capacity; the local police seal the entrances once the festivities begin in earnest. Seats ranging from simple
bleachers to elaborate
box seats may be had for a price, but sell out long before the day of the race. At 7:30 p.m. for the July race, and 7 p.m. for the August race, the detonation of an explosive charge echoes across the piazza, signaling to the thousands of onlookers that the race is about to begin. The race itself runs for three laps of the
Piazza del Campo, the perimeter of which is covered with several inches of dirt (imported and laid for the occasion at great expense to the city) and the corners of which are protected with padded crash barriers for the occasion. The jockeys ride the horses bareback from the starting line, an area between two ropes. Nine horses, in an order only decided by lot immediately before the race starts, enter the space. The tenth, the
rincorsa, waits outside. When the
rincorsa finally enters the space between the ropes the starter (
mossiere) activates a mechanism that instantly drops the
canapo (the front rope). This process (the
mossa) can take a very long time, as deals have usually been made between various
contrade and jockeys that affect when the
rincorsa moves—he may be waiting for a particular other horse to be well—or badly-placed, for example. On the dangerous, steeply canted track, the riders are allowed to use their whips (in Italian,
nerbi, stretched, dried bulls' hide) not only for their own horse, but also for disturbing other horses and riders. The Palio in fact is won by the horse who represents his
contrada, and not by the jockeys. The winner is the first horse to cross the finish line—a horse can win without its rider (a condition known as
cavallo scosso). A horse can also win without its decorative headgear (
spennacchiera), although the opposite belief is widely held even among the Sienese. The loser in the race is considered to be the
contrada whose horse came second, not last. The winner is awarded a banner of painted silk, or
palio, which is hand-painted by a different artist for each race. The enthusiasm after the victory, however, is so extreme that the ceremony of attribution of the
palio is quite instantaneous, being the first moment of a months-long celebration for the winning ward. There are occasional outbreaks of violence between partisans of rival
contrade. There may be some danger to spectators from the sheer number of people in attendance. There have also been complaints about mistreatment of horses, injuries and even deaths, especially from animal-rights associations and even from some
veterinarians. In the Palio held on 16 August 2004, the horse for the
contrada of Bruco (the Caterpillar) fell and was badly trampled, as the race was not stopped despite possible additional safety risks for other horses. The horse died of its injuries, raising further complaints from animal-rights organizations. The Palio differs from "normal" horse races in that part of the game is for the wards to prevent rival
contrade from winning. When a
contrada fails to win, its historical enemy will celebrate that fact nearly as merrily as a victory of its own, regardless of whether adversarial interference was a deciding factor. Few things are forbidden to the jockeys during the race; for instance, they can pull or shove their fellows, hit the horses and each other, or try to hamper other horses at the start. The most successful ward is Oca, the Goose, which has won 64 races (at least according to their records, which start from 1644), followed by Chiocciola, the Snail, with 51, and Tartuca, the Tortoise, with 46. Oca is also the
contrada with the most wins in recent history (from 1900 to 2010) with 21 victories, followed by Selva, the Forest, with 18, and Drago, the Dragon, with 17. Among jockeys, the most victorious of all time is
Andrea Degortes, nicknamed
Aceto ('Vinegar'), with 14 wins (from 1964 to 1996). Angelo Meloni, nicknamed
Picino (active from 1897 to 1933) has the second in the number of wins with 13 successes, and
Luigi Bruschelli, nicknamed
Trecciolino (still active), has the third most of 12 wins (although he claims 13 victories, his horse won without him one year). The most successful horses were Folco and Panezio with eight wins each, followed by Topolone with seven. In recent history (from 1900 to the present), only three wards have succeeded in winning both the July and the August races in a single year (the term in Italian is
fare cappotto) with the same jockey. Tartuca (the Tortoise) accomplished the feat in 1933 with jockey Fernando Leoni (nicknamed "Ganascia") on Folco. In 1997, Giraffa (the Giraffe) won both races, with jockey Giuseppe Pes, nicknamed
Il Pesse. In 2016, jockey Jonatan Bartoletti, on the mount "Preziosa Penelope", won both the July and August races for Lupa (the She-wolf). ==Rituals and preparation==