Palio dell'Assunta 2026: The Field, the Days, and the Result

---

Ten contrade ran the Palio dell'Assunta. Due on the evening of Sunday 16 August 2026, it was postponed by rain twice and finally run at 19.00 on Tuesday 18 August. Nicchio won, ridden by Giovanni Atzeni, Tittia, on Anda e Bola. This page holds the field, the timetable of the final days, and the result.

NICCHIO WINS. After two postponements for rain, the Palio dell'Assunta 2026 was run on Tuesday 18 August. Nicchio took the Drappellone, ridden by Giovanni Atzeni, Tittia, on Anda e Bola — the same horse and jockey Nicchio drew at the tratta and named in the pairings below. Confirmed by the Comune di Siena's own WhatsApp channel on the evening of the race; the fuller detail from the Comune's website will be added here as it is published. Full result: who won the Palio di Siena 2026.

Siena does not build up to the Palio the way other cities build up to an event. The race lasts around ninety seconds; the days before it are the Festa, and they follow a sequence that has not needed rearranging in living memory. By the time you read this, most of that sequence has already happened.

The field

The Tratta was run on the morning of Thursday 13 August: five heats in the Campo, then the Captains of the ten running contrade chose ten horses from the thirty-five admitted, and those ten were assigned to the contrade by draw — per sorteggio, in the words of the Comune's own Palio site. No contrada picks its own horse. How that works, and why it is the fairness at the centre of the race, is a story of its own: how the Palio's horses are chosen.

The pairings below are the accoppiate of the first prova, published by the Comune on the evening of the assignment, in the order the contrade take the canapi:

One caution the Sienese would give you before any prediction: a Captain files his rider's name in writing only after the provaccia on the morning of the race, and until that moment a contrada may still change its fantino. The horse, by contrast, is settled — from the assignment onwards it is stabled inside its contrada's territory and does not leave that care until the race.

The story in the draw

The name that rearranged the week is Diodoro. He is the horse that won the July Palio for Aquila under Giovanni Atzeni, Tittia — a race Aquila took on 3 July 2026, postponed a day for rain, ending a wait of thirty-four years. Diodoro did not go back to Aquila. He was drawn by Lupa, who named Dino Pes, Velluto, to ride him — while Tittia rides against his own July horse, for Nicchio, on Anda e Bola. Aquila drew Benitos, a debutant.

That is the Palio in a single paragraph: six weeks after the triumph, the winning contrada keeps its banner and loses its horse to the draw, and the winning jockey is hired by a rival. Nothing transfers. Everything is negotiated again.

The banner they are running for

The prize is the Drappellone, the painted silk banner commissioned fresh for each race — this one from the painter Teodora Axente, unveiled in the Cortile del Podestà on 10 August. It is dedicated to the Madonna dell'Assunta and to five hundred years since the battle of Camollia, and the same painter currently has exhibitions in both of Siena's principal civic museums — a coincidence of timing no visitor should waste: the painter of this Palio's banner has two shows in Siena right now.

The race is started by the Mossiere, Renato Bircolotti, appointed for this Palio by the Comune.

The prove, and why winning one counts for nothing

Six trials are run between the handover of the horses and the race, morning and evening, from the afternoon the horses are consegnati to the morning of the Palio itself. The Comune sets the number down as inherited rather than legislated — "Secondo l'antica tradizione, le prove sono in numero di sei" — and records a winner for each. All six have now run: Onda took the first, Giraffa the second and third, Torre the fourth, Oca the fifth — the prova generale — and Lupa the provaccia on the morning of Sunday 16 August, the day the race was originally called for. Six trials, five different winners, and nothing in them that tells you who wins when the race is finally run. The two postponements have moved the carriera but not the trials: the Comune has published no notice of a further prova since the provaccia, and this page will not assume one.

Almost nothing follows from that. A prova win buys no starting position, because the two orders are unrelated. The place each contrada takes at the canapi for a trial is fixed in advance under article 62 of the Regolamento per il Palio, and the Comune published all six orders together on 13 August, before a horse had run; the order for the Palio itself is drawn on the day, "per sorteggio da un apposito mezzo meccanico". What a trial does put under a horse is the ground — the drop at San Martino, "la curva in discesa ove spesso si decide l'esito della corsa" in the Comune's own glossary, and the climb at the Casato, the other of the two turns it calls crucial. And on the last of the six, holding back is the convention rather than a ruse: the Comune explains the name provaccia by the horses being deliberately kept from running, to save them for the race.

Two of the six carry names of their own, and both fall at the end. The fifth, at 19.15 on the eve of the race, is the prova generale, after which the ten contrade eat out of doors in their own streets at the cena della prova generale. The sixth and last, at 9.00 on the morning the race is called for — Sunday 16 August, as it turned out — is the provaccia, and it is the one with consequences, because it is only after it that the Captains file their riders' names in writing with the Comune, and from that moment the fantino can no longer be changed.

Race day, hour by hour

The Comune's timetable for Tuesday 18 August, as it published it on its WhatsApp channel on race morning. The two mortaretto preavvisi are ten minutes earlier than the written notice of 17 August had them; everything from the clearing of the track onwards is unchanged:

Standing in the centre of the Campo is free. It is also a commitment of most of a day, in August, with no re-entry once you leave — the practical detail, seat prices and the honest trade-offs are in how to watch the Palio.

Will the Palio be cancelled or postponed?

A Palio is not cancelled for weather. It is postponed. Under article 90 of the Regolamento per il Palio, the Mayor of Siena may put the race back to the following day if the track is unsafe — and only the Mayor. The race is then run, not lost.

You can read the decision off the Palazzo Pubblico before you read it anywhere else: a flag at one of the trifore, green for postponed to the next day, white for delayed on the same evening. The Comune di Siena publishes it too, and that is the only source this page will act on.

It has already happened once in 2026. The Palio di Provenzano, due on 2 July, was rained off and run on 3 July, which is why the July winner's date reads as it does. Practically, that is the case for holding the following day as well if you are travelling: tickets carry over to the rescheduled race, but money does not come back once you have flown home.

The frequency is worth a traveller's attention. Seven Palii have been postponed in the twenty-six years of the 2000s — the first in August 2015, then August 2022, both races of 2024, July 2025, and both of 2026 — with August 2025 the only carriera since July 2024 to run on the day it was called for. The last quarter of the twentieth century produced nine, so postponement is not new; the clustering is. Those counts are La Nazione's, whose Siena desk keeps the tally — the Comune issues each rinvio as its own notice and no running total. And a postponed Palio is still run: every race in that list went ahead the following day.

Status: RUN. NICCHIO WINS. At about 15.45 Rome on Sunday 16 August 2026 the green flag went up at the trifore of the Palazzo Pubblico, and the Comune di Siena published the notice: rain from around 14.00 had made the Corteo Storico and the carriera impossible, and both were moved to Monday 17 August. Rain returned on the Monday morning, the tufo was impassable a second time, and at about 14.35 the green flag went up again — moving the race to Tuesday 18 August. This time the weather held, and the Palio dell'Assunta 2026 was run at 19.00 on Tuesday 18 August. Nicchio won, ridden by Giovanni Atzeni, Tittia, on Anda e Bola.

The Comune's own words, in the notice Rimandato il Palio del 16 agosto 2026:

"E' stata esposta la bandiera verde alle trifore di Palazzo Pubblico: rimandato il Palio del 16 agosto 2026 a causa delle avverse condizioni del meteo. La pioggia ha cominciato a scendere su Piazza del Campo intorno alle ore 14, rendendo impossibile lo svolgimento del Corteo Storico e della Carriera, che si svolgeranno, meteo permettendo, con i medesimi orari, nella giornata di domani, lunedì 17 agosto."

The green flag has been shown at the trifore of the Palazzo Pubblico: the Palio of 16 August 2026 is postponed for adverse weather. Rain began falling on the Piazza del Campo at around 14.00, making the Corteo Storico and the Carriera impossible; both will take place, weather permitting, at the same hours, the following day. Those three words — meteo permettendo — are the Comune's, and they earned their place: the next day it rained again, the flag went up a second time, and the race moved to Tuesday 18 August under the same caveat.

Did it nearly happen a third time?

No further postponement notice was published on the morning of Tuesday 18 August. The Comune's last word before the race was Ancora maltempo, rimandato di nuovo il Palio del 16 agosto 2026 of 17 August, which set the day's programme unchanged — and that programme held. The track was cleared at 16.10, the Corteo Storico entered the Campo at 16.50, and the horses came out of the Cortile del Podestà at 19.00. This time the weather permitted, and the race went ahead.

In the end, the recent run of postponements held to its pattern: every Palio put back in 2026 — both the July race and this one, twice — was run, never abandoned. Two rinvii on consecutive days for one carriera is, on the record kept by La Nazione's Siena desk, without precedent in the twenty-six years of the 2000s.

The result: who won the Palio dell'Assunta 2026

Nicchio won the Palio dell'Assunta 2026, ending a 28-year wait: per Il Messaggero, the contrada's previous win was on 16 August 1998 — its 43rd victory overall. The race ran at 19.00 on Tuesday 18 August 2026, after two postponements for rain from the original date of 16 August. The winning fantino was Giovanni Atzeni, Tittia, on Anda e Bola, winning the horse's second career Palio (its first was 16 August 2025, for Valdimontone, under Giuseppe Zedde Gingillo, per Il Messaggero) — the horse and jockey Nicchio had held since the tratta, per the pairings above. The Drappellone, painted by Teodora Axente, passes to the Nicchio's museum.

This is confirmed by the Comune di Siena's own WhatsApp channel on the evening of the race. That channel is not readable by any tool this site's editors run and was relayed by the editor monitoring it directly; it is the Comune's own source, and on both previous decision points this Palio it was ahead of the website. Fuller detail from the Comune's own written report — the time elapsed, any incidents on the course — will be added here once the website publishes it.

Legendary Tittia, and a scare after the finish. "Leggendario Tittia!" — legendary Tittia — is how both La Nazione and Il Messaggero independently headlined it, and the numbers back the word up. This was his thirteenth career Palio victory, equalling the total held by Trecciolino, and — after his July win for Aquila — his fourth cappotto: winning both Palios of a calendar year, a feat no fantino had managed more than three times before, surpassing Isidoro Bianchini Dorino (1786, 1790, 1792) and Nicolò Chiarini Caino (1805, 1810, 1816). At 41, he is now one win short of Andrea Degortes Aceto's all-time record of fourteen. The fall came after the race had already finished, per Il Messaggero ("caduto a corsa ormai finita"): with his whip raised in celebration, Tittia was caught up in the crowd of Nicchio supporters flooding onto the track. Witnessed directly, relayed by 008: the horse collided with a spectator who had run onto the track, and Tittia and Anda e Bola went down together — a more specific account of how the collision happened than Il Messaggero's "collided with a man standing on it," and corroborated by Radio Siena TV's account of "alcune persone" (several people) invading the track before the field had come to a stop. La Nazione's live blog (18.18 UTC / 20.18 Rome, 18 August) reported his condition as not yet known at the time; a follow-up article the same evening reported Tittia was taken by ambulance to the Santa Maria alle Scotte hospital in Siena, conscious, with medical staff saying his condition was not a cause for concern (per Adnkronos). Radio Siena TV, reporting later that evening (21.40), gave the diagnosis: doctors found a trauma cranico — a head injury — and admitted him "in via precauzionale", as a precaution, to keep him under observation. The horse, Anda e Bola, was checked by vets and found to have suffered no consequences. These details combine direct observation and press coverage, not the Comune di Siena, and will be corrected or confirmed here once an official account is available.

Both 2026 races in one place, in eight languages: who won the Palio di Siena 2026.

Looking for the July race instead? The Palio di Provenzano — run on 3 July 2026, postponed by a day — was won by Aquila, ending a 34-year wait. The full account is on the Provenzano result page.

Practical Information

When: Tuesday 18 August 2026, postponed by rain from Sunday 16 August on two consecutive days and running at the same hours. The Comune's race-morning WhatsApp post sets the mortaretto warnings at 14.50 and 15.20 (ten minutes earlier than its 17 August written notice), the clearing of the track from 16.10, the Carabinieri a cavallo at 16.45 and the Corteo Storico entering the piazza at 16.50; the horses leave the Cortile del Podestà at 19.00 — in practice, whenever the mossa is judged valid, which has taken anything from minutes to hours.

Getting about the city today. The postponement brought new traffic restrictions, published by the Comune on its WhatsApp channel on race morning, on top of those already in force in the contrade territories and around Piazza del Campo. From 13.30 to about 21.00 the Polizia Locale mans a no-transit line at the entries to the historic centre — piazza Matteotti, via della Sapienza, via Esterna Fontebranda, Due Porte, via Sarrocchi, via San Pietro, via Roma, Porta Pispini and piazzetta d'Ovile. From 14.00 to about midnight there is no transit in Banchi di Sotto, Banchi di Sopra, via di Città, piazza Jacopo della Quercia, piazza Duomo, via del Capitano, piazza Postierla, via San Pietro, Casato di Sopra and Casato di Sotto. Be parked before 13.30, and expect to walk.

Getting in: access to the conchiglia is 16.00 to 18.00, via Dupré only, to the maximum permitted number — the window published by the Comune for the rescheduled race.

Where: Piazza del Campo. Free in the central conchiglia; grandstand seats and balconies are private sales arranged months ahead — see how to watch the Palio.

The days before: prove run morning (9.00) and evening (19.15) on the 14th and 15th. The evening trials are the atmospheric ones; the morning ones are the quiet ones.

After the race: the victory celebrations run for weeks, and the Drappellone passes into the winning contrada's museum. The next Palio is the Palio di Provenzano, 2 July 2027.

Frequently Asked Questions

Chi ha vinto il Palio dell'Assunta 2026? Ha vinto il Nicchio, che pone fine a un'attesa di 28 anni: l'ultima vittoria della contrada risaliva al 16 agosto 1998. La carriera si è corsa martedì 18 agosto 2026 alle 19.00, dopo due rinvii per pioggia dalla data originaria del 16 agosto. Il fantino era Giovanni Atzeni, Tittia, su Anda e Bola.

Palio di Siena agosto 2026: chi ha vinto? Il Nicchio, nella carriera dell'Assunta corsa il 18 agosto 2026. È la 43ª vittoria della contrada. Per il Palio di luglio (Palio di Provenzano), ha vinto l'Aquila il 3 luglio 2026 — i due risultati del 2026 sono su chi ha vinto il Palio di Siena 2026.

Quali sono i risultati del Palio di Siena 2026? Due vittorie diverse: l'Aquila ha vinto il Palio di Provenzano il 3 luglio 2026, ponendo fine a un'attesa di 34 anni; il Nicchio ha vinto il Palio dell'Assunta il 18 agosto 2026, ponendo fine a un'attesa di 28 anni. In entrambe le corse il fantino era Giovanni Atzeni, Tittia.

Which contrada won the Palio 2026? Aquila won the Palio di Provenzano on 3 July 2026, its first victory since 1992. Nicchio won the Palio dell'Assunta, run on Tuesday 18 August 2026 after two postponements for rain, ridden by Giovanni Atzeni, Tittia, on Anda e Bola.

When was the Palio dell'Assunta 2026? It was due on Sunday 16 August 2026 and was postponed for weather. The Comune moved it to Monday 17 August, then postponed it again on the Monday and moved it to Tuesday 18 August, where it was run at the same hours: the Corteo Storico entered the Campo at 16.50 and the horses left the Cortile del Podesta at 19.00.

Was the Palio postponed in August 2026? Yes. Rain from about 14.00 on 16 August made the Corteo Storico and the carriera impossible, the green flag was shown at the trifore of the Palazzo Pubblico, and the Comune put the race back one day under article 90 of the Regolamento per il Palio. Only the Mayor of Siena can make that decision.

How many contrade run in the Palio dell'Assunta? Ten of the seventeen contrade run each Palio. The horses are assigned to them by draw at the Tratta, three days before the race, and no contrada chooses its own horse.

Is the Palio cancelled if it rains? No. A Palio is postponed, not cancelled. A green flag at the Palazzo Pubblico means the race moves to the following day; a white flag means it is delayed later on the same evening.

Sources

Everything on this page comes from the Comune di Siena, with the exceptions noted below. The field and the race-day timetable were read on 13 August 2026; the section on the prove was checked line by line against the sources below on 14 August 2026.

• Witnessed directly, relayed by 008, evening of 18 August 2026 — the horse collided with a spectator who had run onto the track; a more specific account of the collision mechanism than the press sources below, which describe it as with "a man standing on" the track
• Siena, il Palio in diretta: leggendario Tittia! Vince il Nicchio, poi paura per la caduta — La Nazione (live blog, entry timestamped 18.18 UTC / 20.18 Rome, 18 August 2026) — that Tittia fell heavily after crossing the line, caught up in the crowd and colliding with a man on the track, his condition unknown at the time; a later entry (18.31 UTC) reports the fall left "apparently no consequences" for Tittia or the horse
• La caduta di Tittia, portato in ospedale dopo il trionfo al Palio. Nessuna conseguenza per Anda e Bola — La Nazione (18 August 2026) — that Tittia was taken by ambulance to the Santa Maria alle Scotte hospital for checks, conscious, with medical staff quoted as saying his condition was not a cause for concern (per Adnkronos); that Anda e Bola was checked by vets and found to have suffered no consequences; that the fall came after Tittia had already crossed the finish line with his whip raised, "un contatto con una persona lo ha fatto cadere" — contact with a person made him fall
• Palio di Siena, Tittia in osservazione in ospedale con trauma cranico — Radio Siena TV (21.40, 18 August 2026) — that several people ("alcune persone") invaded the track before the field had stopped, causing Tittia and Anda e Bola to slip on the tufo; that doctors diagnosed a head injury (trauma cranico) and admitted him for precautionary observation ("in via precauzionale")
• La tredicesima volta di Tittia, il re del Palio è lui. Nella storia con il quarto cappotto — La Nazione (18.31 UTC, 18 August 2026) — the record context: Tittia's thirteenth career win, equalling Trecciolino; his fourth cappotto, an all-time record; one win short of Aceto's record of fourteen
• Palio di Siena, il Nicchio vince con il leggendario Tittia. Arrivo choc, cadono entrambi: il fantino ricoverato in ospedale — Il Messaggero (18 August 2026, headline updated by the outlet since publication) — that the fall came after the race had already finished, in the crowd invasion; Nicchio's 28-year wait since 16 August 1998, its 43rd win overall; Atzeni's 13 wins, one short of Aceto's 14; Anda e Bola's second career win (its first was 16 August 2025 for Valdimontone, under Giuseppe Zedde Gingillo). This and the two La Nazione articles above are press-sourced, not the Comune's, and held to the same caveat as the other non-Comune sources below
• Comune di Siena, official WhatsApp channel, evening of 18 August 2026 — the result: Nicchio wins the Palio dell'Assunta 2026, ridden by Giovanni Atzeni, Tittia. Not readable by any tool we run and relayed by 008; it is the Comune's own channel, and on this Palio it was twice ahead of the website
• Comune di Siena, official WhatsApp channel, morning of 18 August 2026 — "Palio 18 agosto 2026 — Gli orari della giornata di oggi": preavvisi 14.50 and 15.20, sgombero 16.10, Carabinieri 16.45, Corteo Storico 16.50, uscita dei cavalli 19.00, piazza 16.00–18.00 via Dupré only, palchi by 16.30. The channel is not readable by any tool we run and was relayed by 008; it is the Comune's own, and on race morning it was ahead of the website
• Ancora maltempo, rimandato di nuovo il Palio del 16 agosto 2026 — Comune di Siena (17 August 2026) — the second green flag, the rain from the morning of Monday 17 August, the move to Tuesday 18 August with the programme unchanged, and the 16.30 close on the palchi
• Rimandato il Palio del 16 agosto 2026 — Comune di Siena (16 August 2026) — the first green flag, the postponement for weather, and the move to the same hours on Monday 17 August, meteo permettendo
• Le contrade al canape — Comune di Siena, Ufficio Palio — that the prove number six, morning and evening, from the afternoon of the handover to the morning of the Palio; that the order at the canapi for the Palio is drawn "per sorteggio da un apposito mezzo meccanico"; that the Captains file their riders' names in writing only after the provaccia; and the winners of the first three trials
• Palio 16 agosto, l'ordine ai canapi per le prove — Comune di Siena (13 August 2026) — that the order for each trial is set under article 62 of the Regolamento per il Palio, published in advance for all six; and the date and time of each, from the first at 19.15 on 13 August to the provaccia at 9.00 on 16 August
• Il Palio di Siena — the Comune's official guide — the prova generale as the fifth trial and the cena that follows it; San Martino as "la curva in discesa ove spesso si decide l'esito della corsa" and the Casato as the other of the two decisive turns; and why the provaccia is so called
• Palio 16 agosto, tutti gli orari — Comune di Siena (updated 7 August 2026) — the race-day timetable, hour by hour
• Palio rinviato — Comune di Siena, Ufficio Palio — that the July 2026 race was postponed for weather "come previsto dall'articolo 90 del Regolamento per il Palio"
• The non-Comune sources on this page describe the sky and the piazza, never the decision — the decision is the Comune's alone. The race-day weather report of 16 August is from Radio Siena TV, quoting Damiano Sonnini of MeteoSiena24 (14.05, 16 August 2026); that the storm emptied the piazza and stripped tufo from the track is from La Nazione (14.20, updated 14.28, 16 August 2026)

One thing is deliberately absent: the Regolamento per il Palio itself. The Comune cites it by article but publishes no copy online, and the printed editions listed in its own guide run only to 2019. Nothing on this page is attributed to the Regolamento except where the Comune has quoted it.

By the Siena & Toscana editors