Here we are. Today is the third Sunday of June and in Castiglion Fiorentino it means only one thing: it’s the Palio. Yesterday the three districts warmed up with the propitiatory dinners which reached record numbers again this year with hundreds and hundreds of places set, with an echo that now goes beyond (by a lot) the borders of Castiglioni. The culmination of a promotion process that had been put in place with the establishment of the Palio body which has worked a lot over the years and this was seen with the presentation of the event directly in the capital: in Rome in the Campidoglio where also the president of The Capitoline Assembly expressed words of praise towards the Palio, also proposing future collaborations to the Castiglionese community. Another milestone was achieved thanks to the patronage of the Serie B League which put its logo on the event and on the five-a-side football tournament connected to it, making it clear that the Palio fully represents those values of the football championship.
And then again this year, after Anna Falchi and Adriana Volpe, there will be a godmother: her name is Matilde Brandi, a well-known face from the small screen, a veteran of Island of the Famous, but also an old acquaintance of Castiglioni since she had already inaugurated the Valdichiana Wine Festival on the occasion of Maggio Castiglionese.
But let’s get to the race. The magistrate of the prize is once again Pierpaolo Mangani from Castiglione, while Gennaro Milone will be the one to give the move, making his debut in Piazzale Garibaldi. As for the jockeys, the Terziere di Porta Fiorentina chooses Giosuè Carboni and Dino Pes for the Palio, Mattia Chiavassa and Adrian Topalli will race for the Rione Cassero; finally, among the ranks of Porta Romana there will be Walter Pusceddu and Silvano Mulas. Last year the victory was won by the Terziere di Porta Fiorentina with Dino Pes, known as Velluto, on Abracadabra. Thus the orange-greens had put the arrow reaching fifteen victories, one more than the Rione di Porta Romana and the Rione Cassero which this year they will do everything to get even. Federico Fabbri on Vankook ran for the Paliotto for Porta Fiorentina, Salvatore Nieddu on Zio Fester and Gabriele Puligheddu on Blue Star ran for the Cassero. The winner of the memorial dedicated to “Beppe Gentile” was the Terziere di Porta Fiorentina.
