Palio of Asti

The Palio di Asti (or Palio Astese in its most archaic nomenclature) is a traditional Italian festival of medieval origin that culminates with a bareback horse race.

The race has been run each year since the 13th century. The earliest record, cited by Guglielmo Ventura, dates from the third quarter of the 13th century. It has taken place every year, with the exception of a period in the 1870s and a 30 year interruption in the 20th century.

Since 1988, the race has taken place in a triangular 'square' in the center of Asti, the Piazza Alfieri, on every third Sunday in September.

The word Palio derives from the Latin pallium, a rectangular sheet of cloth that the Romans wore as a cloak. Originally, the word applied only to the piece of cloth that was placed at the finishing post and awarded to the winner of the race.

Over time the word came to apply to the event in general, including all the rituals and traditions associated with the race, as well as the race itself.

Since the inception of the race, the citizens of Asti have struggled to maintain the privilege of running the Palio on the feast day of their patron saint, San Secondo, bishop of Asti, martyred on the 30th of March 119. The race is mentioned in many treaties and alliance agreements with various sovereigns, patrons and rulers.

The first certain record of the race dates from 1275. In that year Guglielmo Ventura wrote that Asti, sicut fieri solet Ast, in festo Beati Secundi (as is usual in Asti, during the Feast of San Secondo), ran a Palio under the walls of enemy city of Alba in order to mock its inhabitants, in the meantime devastating the surrounding vineyards.

Considering that the Palio was already a tradition in 1275, it is probable that the origins of the race date to some time after 1000, with established rules from the 13th century onwards - the period of Asti's greatest splendor.

From the end of the 13th century to the first half of the 14th century, the race took place alla tonda (in the round), along a circular course that corresponds to the modern Piazza Alfieri and Piazza Libertà. This course had already been called the curriculum (race course in Latin) in the periods of Lombard and Carolingian domination.

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Wikipedia