The Palio, Word by Word: A Glossary That Only Says What We Can Source

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The Palio comes with its own language, and most glossaries pad theirs with insider terms half-understood from other glossaries. This one is stricter: every entry below is used, in this sense, on one of our Comune-sourced Palio pages. Shorter — and right.

Palio — the race itself, run in Piazza del Campo on 2 July (Palio di Provenzano) and 16 August (Palio dell'Assunta) each year — and, by extension, the banner it is run for. How it works.

Contrada (pl. contrade) — one of the seventeen districts that are the city's real civic nations: territory, museum, oratory, fountain, baptism, rivalries. Ten run each Palio. The seventeen; walking them.

Terzo — one of the city's three historic thirds (Città, San Martino, Camollia) into which the contrade group.

Drappellone — the painted silk banner, newly commissioned for every race, that is the Palio's only prize; it passes into the winning contrada's museum. This August's, and its painter.

Capitano — a contrada's Palio commander: consulted on the horses, hirer of the fantino, keeper of strategy.

Tratta — the morning, three days before the race, when the horses are chosen and assigned: heats in the Campo, the Captains' selection of ten, then the draw. The whole mechanism.

Batterie — the trial heats of the Tratta, run so the Captains can judge the horses on the actual track.

Assegnazione — the assignment of the ten chosen horses to the ten running contrade by lot (a sorte, per sorteggio — the Comune's own words). No contrada picks its horse; this is the race's engine of fairness.

Prova (pl. prove) — the trial runs, mornings and evenings, between the Tratta and the race. Free to watch, and the connoisseur's ticket. Provaccia — the deliberately unhurried final trial on race morning.

Fantino — the jockey: a hired professional riding bareback, engaged after the horse is assigned. His name is filed in writing after the provaccia, from which moment he cannot be changed. Soprannome — a fantino's Palio nickname, the name the city actually uses (Tittia, Scompiglio…).

Accoppiata — a contrada–fantino–horse pairing as published for the prove; provisional until race-morning filing.

Canapi — the ropes of the start; the order in which the contrade enter between them is drawn, and the phrase ordine ai canapi names it.

Mossa — the start itself: valid only when judged so, after manoeuvring at the ropes that has taken anything from minutes to hours. Mossiere — the official who gives it.

Corteo Storico — the historical procession that fills the Campo in the hours before the race; the Drappellone rides in it.

Palio di Provenzano / dell'Assunta — the July and August races' proper names, honouring the Madonna di Provenzano (her church) and the Madonna of the Assumption respectively.

The terms you will not find here

Nerbo, cencio, barbaresco and the rest of the deep-insider lexicon are real Sienese words — and absent because our rule is stricter than completeness: we define only what our own verified pages use. A glossary is where half-right definitions do the most damage; this one grows only as our sourcing does.

Practical Information

The words above become real between the Tratta and the race — four days each July and August. How to be there; planning a year out; and the current race's page carries this edition's field.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "contrada" mean? One of Siena's seventeen historic districts — living civic communities with their own territory, museum, church and Palio identity. Ten of the seventeen run each race.

What is the Drappellone? The painted silk banner commissioned fresh for each Palio — the race's only prize, which passes into the winning contrada's museum.

What is the Tratta? The morning three days before the race when the ten horses are chosen by the Captains after trial heats, then assigned to the contrade by lot. No contrada picks its own horse.

What is the mossa? The start of the Palio — valid only when the starter (the mossiere) judges it so, after rope-line manoeuvring that can take minutes or hours.

By the Siena & Toscana editors