Ronciglione has many events but the Palio is one of the most important. This riderless horse race has been in existence for more than 450 years. There are 5 neighborhoods represented and thus the colors on the horses and clothes of the people. Saturday is the a practice round to select the best horses to run on Sunday. Saturday night is a parade of the respective neighborhoods followed by much celebration. We had a great time with the friends we have made here.
It’s quite a process to set up this event with days of placing hay bales and fencing along with covering the street in dirt all to protect the horses and people. There are sound speakers set up and an interesting selection of music is played during the day such as - Freak Out, Macho Macho Man, and Sinatra’s Ney York. Italy is certainly an interesting place.
This looks like so much fun!
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