Siena, 3 July 2024 – A rain mocking, fallen on Siena just when the horses were already moving, he made it inevitable the postponement of the Palio di Provenzano to today. Throughout the afternoon the clouds had been gathering on the horizon, a warning of the storms that were hitting part of the province. Then, when the tangle of this Palio had already been unraveling for about ten minutes, with the Contrade already lined up between the ropes and ready to go, came the downpour of water that in a few moments turned the tuff into a slippery and dangerous patina. Hence the choice by the mayor Nicoletta Fabio to display the green flagsynonymous with postponement to the next day.
The public flees from a rain-battered Piazza del Campo in search of shelter
It will run this evening at 7pmslightly earlier than the usual 7.30 pm, even if the weather forecast certainly doesn’t leave us feeling reassured, because of the intense variability threatens to bring more rain to Siena in the afternoon. The postponement obviously upsets the consolidated rhythms of the Siena Festival, which are spread over four days. The additional variable compared to other postponements, this time, is that the protagonists already know the order of the move, normally destined to be revealed only at the last minute. This will not be the case this evening, because it will be kept the defined order last night. And so the entry order will be Pantera, Valdimontone, Nicchio, Giraffa, Civetta, Leocorno, Bruco, Oca, Onda and Lupa chasing each other. With the peculiarity of two pairs of rivals (Valdimontone-Nicchio and Civetta-Leocorno), flanked by fate, just to add pathos to a Palio already difficult to frame.
Six horses and two rookie jockeys are an element capable of adding uncertainty to a challenge that already lives on the interlocking strategies and the mysteries of the agreements between the contenders. And the night just passed was one in which the knowledge of the order of the move added a particularly spicy ingredient to an already rich dish.
We repeat this evening starting, on paper, from the favourites for Oca e Valdimontonewho have the two most victorious jockeys on their side, the Sardinian Tittia and the Pistoian Bartoletti. They ride two horses that have already raced in Piazza del Campo, Veranu and Viso d’Angelo, but who have never won, just as no ‘Barbero’ chosen for this Career has ever won. From this evening, weather permitting, for one of the ten it will no longer be like this.
