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

---

Teodora Axente painted the Drappellone that the Nicchio carried home after the race, which ran on 18 August following two postponements for rain. She also had work hanging in both of Siena's principal civic museums at the same time: one of those shows closed on 30 August 2026, and the other, Allegoria, was extended to 18 October 2026.

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, Now Closed

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

At the Museo Civico, inside the Palazzo Pubblico, Allegoria ran from 8 August to 18 October 2026 — a site-specific show by, in the museum's own words, l'artista rumena, pittrice del Drappellone di agosto 2026. Freddo placed 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 was in the complex's former stable from 20 February 2026, a reinstallation of fourteen works. It closed on 30 August 2026.

The subtitle is the point. Both shows were 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 It Was Worth an Afternoon

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

There had been a narrow window in which all three could be seen together: the banner before the race, while both exhibitions were open. After 30 August 2026 the Santa Maria della Scala show was gone, and after the race the banner left public view for the museum of the Nicchio contrada, where it remains, visible by reservation or at announced special openings.

Practical Information

Allegoria — Museo Civico, Palazzo Pubblico, Piazza del Campo. Ran from 8 August to 18 October 2026; now closed. It was included with Museo Civico admission; see our Piazza del Campo, Torre del Mangia and Palazzo Pubblico guide for visiting the Museo Civico.

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

The Drappellone — was on public display in the days before the race; afterwards it went to the museum of the winning contrada, the Nicchio, where it remains.

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