For the second year the Palio di Ferrara will take place in the evening, with a forced return to the tradition of the last Sunday of May, due to the bad weather which forced the organizers to move the races from Saturday to today 26 May (start at 8pm in Piazza Ariostea). And as with any self-respecting competition, there is no shortage of predictions, although perhaps never like this year have all four races (Putti, Putte, Donkeys and Horses) been open.
In short, it is difficult to say which districts are most favored. Starting from Race of the Puttiwhere the athlete who gave the victory in San Paolo in 2023 will not be able to compete due to having reached the age limit. Among the “experts” Francesco Canella from Santa Maria in Vado could have some chance, who played an excellent race in 2023, so like the putti of San Luca and San Giacomo who achieved good results during their athletic season, while Christian Pace of San Giorgio also seems to be very talented.
Also uncertain Putte Race. It can only be said that Virginia Pelati from San Benedetto did very well in 2023 in her debut on the streets, as did Giorgia Fogli from Santa Maria in Vado, while Federica Tumiati from San Luca also enjoys great consideration in the environment.
As for the Donkey Race, this year for the first time ‘whole’ male donkeys will also be able to run, therefore not just ‘geldings’, which will make the race absolutely competitive and on a national level (in the other Italian Palios, in fact, ‘whole geldings’ normally run ‘), not to mention the fact that the regulation has also opened up participation to grooms from outside the province, so many true professionals in the sector will take to the field. San Giovanni, which withdrew due to physical problems of its champion, will not run, so the race will be seven-way. Special observation will be Thomas Bresciani of Santo Spirito on Soldatino Moreno, who won in 2022 for the same district, but the race is one of those that is very open to any result and will be particularly exciting.
The same thing can be said for the Horse race, which is very interesting and with a very uncertain result. Many could make a winning move. The reigning champions are Francesco Caria on Arsenicolupen, who won for San Giacomo in 2023 but this year they win again with San Giovanni. However, there are many jockeys who have already achieved victories in Ferrara, from Alessio Migheli who will race for San Giacomo to Valter Pusceddu who gave the victory in 2019 in San Luca and who will attempt an encore for the same district (however his participation in judicial events that have arisen in these very hours, which we are talking about here), up to Sebastiano Murtas who triumphed for San Paolo but who this year will race for the colors of Santo Spirito. A prediction, therefore, impossible to hazard due to the values put forward by all eight districts. What makes the difference, as often happens, could be the games and strategies of the Palio, dictated by the rivalries between districts and between the jockeys themselves. One of them, it is rumored in the community, seems to be out of the running and could break the bank. We’ll see.
