The Painter of This Palio's Banner Has Two Exhibitions in Siena

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Teodora Axente painted the Drappellone that one contrada will carry home on the evening of 16 August. She also has work hanging in both of Siena's principal civic museums — and one of those shows closes on 30 August.

The prize for winning the Palio is a painted silk banner. Not a cup, not prize money: a Drappellone, commissioned fresh for each race from an artist chosen for the occasion, which passes into the museum of the winning contrada and stays there. Sienese speak of races by their banner. It is the only trophy in European sport that is also a commission.

This August's was unveiled on the afternoon of Monday 10 August in the Cortile del Podestà, after the chiarine had sounded and the Sindaco, Nicoletta Fabio, had spoken. It is dedicated to the Madonna dell'Assunta and to five hundred years since the battle of Camollia.

What Is Actually in the Painting

The Comune's own description is unusually precise, and worth following with the image in front of you.

The Virgin sits at the apex of a pyramidal composition — a structure that deliberately recalls the great tradition of Sienese painting, and which the Comune places in un dialogo ideale with Simone Martini. Her blue mantle opens over the city. She is protecting the Rosa d'Oro, the golden rose that Pope Pius II — a Sienese pope — gave to the city.

At her feet, two cherubim hold the arms of Siena. Their bodies merge into fish. That is not decoration: metamorphosis is this painter's habitual language, and the fish is an ancient Christian sign that here doubles as a figure for the Sienese themselves — a community that, in the words of the presentation, finds in the Palio il momento più alto della propria identità collettiva.

Riccardo Freddo, the art curator who presented the work, put the artist in the Scuola di Cluj — the Cluj School, among the more influential painting movements of this century — and described her as a surrealist in dialogue with the past, with Frida Kahlo and Leonora Carrington audible behind her.

Two Shows, and One of Them Is Closing

Here is what has gone largely unremarked: the same painter currently has work in both of Siena's principal civic museums, at the same time.

At the Museo Civico, inside the Palazzo Pubblico, Allegoria runs from 8 August to 27 September — a site-specific show by, in the museum's own words, l'artista rumena, pittrice del Drappellone di agosto 2026. Freddo places it accanto all'Allegoria del Buono e del Cattivo Governo di Ambrogio Lorenzetti — beside the fresco cycle that gives the show its name, and one of the most consequential paintings in Europe.

At Santa Maria della Scala, across the piazza from the Duomo, Metamorphoses of the Sacred — Works in Dialogue with Siena has been in the complex's former stable since 20 February, a reinstallation of fourteen works. It closes on 30 August.

The subtitle is the point. Both shows are constructed as conversations with the city rather than exhibitions that happen to be sited in it — which is also, exactly, what a Drappellone is. Freddo described the banner as the natural completion of a dialogue the artist had already begun here.

Why This Is Worth an Afternoon

Most visitors in Palio week see the banner once, at a distance, being carried. Very few realise they can walk into two museums and see the same hand at work at length — or that the painting they glimpsed in the Campo was made by someone who has spent months in conversation with the city's own art.

There is a narrow window in which all three can be seen together: the banner before the race, and both exhibitions before the end of August. After the 30th the Santa Maria della Scala show is gone, and after the race the banner leaves public view for a contrada museum — where it can be seen, but by appointment and on the contrada's terms.

Practical Information

Allegoria — Museo Civico, Palazzo Pubblico, Piazza del Campo. 8 August to 27 September 2026. Included with Museo Civico admission; see our Piazza del Campo, Torre del Mangia and Palazzo Pubblico guide for tickets, current hours and the Palio-week variations.

Metamorphoses of the Sacred — Works in Dialogue with Siena — Santa Maria della Scala, Piazza del Duomo. Until 30 August 2026, in the former stable. Fourteen works.

The Drappellone — on public display in the days before the race; afterwards, in the museum of the winning contrada.

Hours and admission at both museums change during Palio week and are worth checking on the day.

Continue Reading

• Piazza del Campo, the Torre del Mangia and the Palazzo Pubblico — what to see, what it costs, and when to go
• How the Palio Actually Works — the mossa, the rivalries and the rituals most visitors miss
• Palio di Siena 2026 — dates, tickets and planning for this year's races