How the Palio di Siena Works: Mossa, Rivalries & Rituals

For dates, tickets and trip planning for the 2026 races specifically, see our Palio di Siena 2026 guide. This piece covers the mechanics that stay the same every time.

For the Palio as a whole — what it is, how to watch it, where it comes from, and which of our Palio pages answers which question — start at the Palio guide.

The Contrade: Closer to Nationality Than Neighbourhood

Siena is divided into 17 historic wards, or contrade, each a self-governing micro-state with its own church, museum, fountain, baptismal font, flag colours, anthem, and government — a capitano handling racing strategy, a priore handling civic and religious life. A child is baptised into their contrada in infancy, and the affiliation lasts for life. It functions less like a neighbourhood association and more like a second, deeply felt nationality.

Only 10 of the 17 contrade race in any given Palio. Contrade that didn't run in the previous equivalent race have automatic right of entry; the remaining spots are filled by public lottery.

Rivalry Has Rules, and They Are Written Down

The alliances and understandings that shape a Palio — accordi between contrade, and the partiti in which money changes hands — are widely assumed by visitors to be an underworld the city tolerates and does not govern. That is not the case. They are expected to exist, expected to be honoured, and expected to be declared.

An ordinance signed by the Mayor of Siena, Nicoletta Fabio, on 11 August 2026 sets out how. Agreements in force between contrade, and any made in future, must be enforced by each contrada's own Dirigenza. They must form part of the dossier annexed to the report of the Deputati della Festa, under article 92 of the Regolamento per il Palio — which is to say the city expects to have them on file. Where an agreement is silent on the point, offensive chants are forbidden outright when a contrada crosses its rival's territory, and the agreement stands in every other respect. And the contrada whose ground is being crossed must guarantee that only its own Dirigenza is present at the passage.

The ordinance's own preamble explains the thinking: the administration wants agreements between contrade, particularly between rivals, because they hold the festival together outside the ninety seconds of the race as well as inside them — and because they strengthen the contrade's capacity to govern themselves rather than be governed.

For a visitor this is worth knowing for one reason. The charge in the streets during Palio week is real, and it is also managed. What looks like barely contained enmity is a rivalry with written terms, filed paperwork and a mayor's signature behind it. If you are watching a contrada pass through its enemy's territory in silence, you are not watching restraint break out spontaneously.

The Horse Wins, Not the Jockey

A horse that crosses the finish line first wins for its contrada regardless of whether its jockey is still mounted — falls happen, especially at the track's sharpest bend, and a riderless finish (scosso) is a completely legitimate victory. Jockeys (fantini) are itinerant professionals, hired through secretive private negotiation; fees for the top riders can run into hundreds of thousands of euros for under two minutes of riding. Whips (nerbi, traditionally dried bull's pizzle) may be used on opposing horses and riders as well as one's own, within the rules.

The prize is never money. It's the drappellone — a hand-painted silk banner, newly commissioned for every race from a different artist, unveiled just days beforehand. The winning contrada keeps it as a permanent fixture of its identity.

The Corteo Storico: Not a Warm-Up Act

Before either horse enters the track, all 17 contrade — not just the 10 racing — process through the city and around the Campo in Renaissance costume: flag-throwers (alfieri), drummers, and on race day the Carroccio, a ceremonial ox-drawn cart bearing the drappellone. This runs well over an hour and is a serious civic ritual in its own right.

A recurring feature of Palio evenings, most consistently on the Prova Generale, is a mounted charge by a detachment of the Carabinieri. A squadron from the 4th Cavalry Regiment — the last fully mounted regiment in the Italian armed forces — enters the Campo at a walk in full ceremonial dress, salutes the authorities, then breaks into a full gallop for roughly half a circuit. Watch the crowd during it: for the one moment in four days, the entire piazza applauds the same thing rather than splitting along contrada lines.

The Mossa: The Part That Confuses Everyone

This is the single most misunderstood stage — and it can take longer than the race that follows. The ten horses enter the roped starting area (canapi) one at a time, in an order fixed earlier that day by lot. Nine line up shoulder to shoulder between two ropes; the tenth, the rincorsa, waits outside. The starter (mossiere) is, by regulation, the sole judge of when to start.

The rincorsa's charge into position is what triggers a valid start. If the alignment breaks down, the mossiere voids the attempt; mortars fire, and all ten return to try again. A single mossa taking 30–40 minutes across several false starts is entirely normal. Strategic sabotage at the rope — a jockey stalling to deny a rival a clean start — is part of the contest, not a breach of it.

Once the rope finally drops cleanly, the race is almost an afterthought: three clockwise laps of the Campo's perimeter on a packed earth track laid over the piazza's brick paving, run in under 90 seconds. The sharpest bend, San Martino, is where most falls happen.

Etiquette

Don't ask casually who's going to win — contrada identity isn't a preference to poll. No applause for a fall or injury, human or equine — the crowd's mood shifts instantly, and that shift is the cue to read the room. Loud reactions to a perceived foul are normal crowd behaviour. If invited into a contrada's territory, museum, or dinner, that's a genuine honour — go, listen, and don't ask transactional questions about what it all costs.

Give way in the street. A contrada walking its horse to or from the Campo has priority over everything in the road, and the city requires premises on the route to clear their outdoor tables for it. Step into a doorway and let it pass — how this works on the ground.

Long dinner tables set down a Siena street at dusk during a contrada dinner — A contrada dinner in the streets of Siena on the eve of the July Palio.

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By the Siena & Toscana editors