Every year, the city of Siena focuses on a spectacle known as the Palio. On the surface it’s a bareback horse race, underneath it’s a battle between the city boroughs, in which centuries-old rivalries erupt, with vast sums changing hands and reputations at stake.
Siena, Piazza del Campo, July 2, 2010. It’s 20 minutes past seven in the evening and 20,000 people are crammed into the magnificent shell-shaped square. Nine horses are jockeying for position at one end of the square, pushing, buffeting their bareback riders, using their elbows and knees to bump and strike their fellow jockeys and the horses.
Two ropes delineate the start area. Behind the back one, a 10th horse and rider are moving nervously. The crowd watches, expectant, tense.
The front rope is the charge of the Mossiere, who will only start the race when the last horse’s neck is through the gap alongside the rear rope, and the other horses are lined up correctly. But it’s chaos in there, so he orders them all out. They circle, then file back in. More bumping and pushing ensues.
Out they come, and again. Five times the Mossiere orders them out. The crowd’s noise rises every time, echoing around the piazza, as does the tension. Last year it took two hours to start the Palio.
I can see why. The Mossiere is in charge, but until the 10th horse enters the starting area, he is impotent. But there is another very important factor that influences the start: the jockeys need to have done their deals with one another.
Until these have been agreed, they will not line up properly, and the last horse will not ride past the back rope. Each time they are ordered out they pair up, talking, heads shaking, shoulders shrugging, money promised, lots of it.
Roberta Ferri is head of communication for Siena. Standing next to me on the Town Hall balcony where the media view the race, she points to the riders, as they file past us on their way from the warm-up area in an inner courtyard of the huge Town Hall to the start line.
For the full story pick up the August Red Bulletin Magazine.
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