Il Palio of Siena!!!!!

Last week we went to Siena to visit our friends Regula and Pasquale. We went there to watch the Il Palio, a famous horse race.  17 contrades compete in the race. They are Caterpillar, Snail, Owl, Dragon, Giraffe, Porcupine, Unicorn, Wolf, Shell, Goose, Whale, Panther, Tortoise, Forest, Tower and Ram.

This is me on the Il Palio track in Siena.

On the first day we watched the lottery of horses. It's where the riders find out which horse they will be riding. Wave got the best horse. I go for Wolf ("Lupa" in Italian).

Then it was practice. We went to see it but by the time we got there it finished. Dad went to the real Il Palio and we watched it on TV whilst having a picnic.  The build up is massive. They have people screaming and waving their flags all chanting and singing for their team.  Here are the rules....................NO RULES!!!!!! They ride bare back, they can whip the other jockeys, push them over, and even give the others money to let them win!  And the horse can win if the rider is not on it! How weird is that???????

The race!

At the start of every race a mortar fires (and it is so loud and the horses will start to run).  The winner wins the Palio, a fabric flag with the Madonnas on it.  In the race two riders fell off and the horse that came second had no rider!  The winner was........WAVE!!!!!!

Il Palio!

The winning horse. Winning contrada ONDA!!!

I got to touch the Il Palio!