“Palio del Casale 2024: Cameri competing with his jockey in the traditional donkey race of Cicciano!”
Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 May 2024, a Cicciano, in the province of Naples, will host the 19th edition of the Palio del Casale, the exciting world donkey racing competition this year too with the participation of delegations arriving from all over Italy and also from abroad.
The Palio del Casale is a folkloristic and historical event that recalls what happened on the second Sunday of May 1768 when people gathered in the square and celebrated “independence” from Nola for three days. The celebrations were so sumptuous and long that in the following days even the young people from the nearby hamlets arrived in the city on the backs of donkeys; many of them saw the beautiful Giuseppina among the young girls of the town and in the fervor of declaring themselves to the girl, a dispute arose.
Following the invitation from the organizers of the ISIDE Association – organizer of the Palio del Casale, the Municipality of Cameri, together with the Palio Institution, authorized the participation of a jockey and a delegation made up of representatives of the 4 districts in the event. On this occasion and for future ones, Cameri will have the privilege and honor of representing Piedmont within the entire event. In fact, 20 Italian delegations will participate in the race – representing 20 regions – and a foreign delegation from Pakistan.
The choice of the jockey who will defend the city’s colors fell on Marco Diana, a veteran of the Palio di Cameri (and not only) who, in addition to decades of experience behind him, also boasts the highest number of victories in the city’s Palio.
The President of the Ente Palio – Andrea Comoglio – in thanking the municipal administration for the decision to have accepted the invitation to have the Camerese delegation participate in the event and Felice Paolino D’Amico for having suggested to Cicciano’s friends to choose the City of Cameri and its Palio as representatives of Piedmont, was keen to highlight how the occasion of the “Palio del Casale” will be a showcase for the relaunch of the Camerise event in September and how our Palio can become – in the future – a opportunities for the development of the entire territory, also through the valorisation of the historical, artistic and architectural heritage of the city and being a valid tool for economic growth.
D’Amico – who will be present in Cicciano together with the Cameroonian delegation representing President Comoglio – was keen to point out that today it is necessary to think of the Palio as an “asset”, as a “resource”. The valorization of the Palio and of the entire territory – which already boasts many records in the food and wine and natural fields (see Parco del Ticino) – could give the City of Cameri that visibility and tourist attraction such as to be a source of real advantages of opportunities social, economic and environmental.
The Donkey Palio is a tradition to be delivered and handed down to future generations not only as a sterile passage of ancient knowledge, but also as an opportunity not to be missed for the economic and social relaunch of the city.
Participation in the Palio del Casale di Cicciano could be the beginning.
