Section 4 of 5
Siena
Ten horses, a shell-shaped square. Every entry is one breed, one job or one place, with the terrain that explains it.
A contrada is a city ward with its own colours, chapel and membership — the race is between wards, not stables.
Photo: The procession of the Noble Contrada "Oca (Goose)". Siena, Italy · Wikimedia Commons
3 entries in this section
- The PalioTwice a year, ten horses run bareback around the Piazza del Campo on packed tufo laid over the stone, for contrade that have held the ritual for centuries — and it is genuinely contested, which the entry should say.
- The contradeSeventeen city wards with their own colours, chapels and memberships, of which ten run each race.
- The trackA shell-shaped square with two dangerous corners, and a surface built specifically for the two days it is used.
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