HISTORY
The Donkey Palio must be the most important event for the people of Torrita. It began in 1966 from the initiative of a group of townspeople who w
anted to create a popular festival in honour of St.Joseph (patron Saint of carpenters), as the working of wood was, and still is, widespread in Torrita.
So, it could not have been called anything else but “The Donkey Palio” in honour of Saint Joseph, the Worker Saint. Infact, the festival had to celebrate the two components of the work: the labour and the simplicity. Since the first celebration in 19th March 1966 (St.Joseph’sDay), it is the Saint himself depicted on the Palio, which is a painted canvas banner.
As Sienese tradition requires, the Palio is competed for by the eight Contradas of Torrita di Siena: Porta a Pago, Porta a Sole, Porta Gavina, Porta Nova, Le Fonti, Stazione, Refenero and Cavone.
Each one has its own colours, its coat-of-arms and its own characters consisting of a Lady, a Prince, an Ensign, flag-wavers, drummers and others characters impeccably dressed in rich costumes of the middle period of the Fifteenth Century.
On an oval racetrack, some two hundred metres long , the contradas compete in the ‘Gioco del Pallone’.
After four eliminating rounds between two contradas in three laps, and one for the four losers, there is the final round. The winner is the first to complete four laps.
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But the race is always full of surprises as the donkeys themselves are so unpredictable and they may stop in their tracks, alter the pace of the race or even change direction.
At the end of the race, uncontrollable joy and enthusiasm breaks out among the winners … screams of joy mixed with tears of happiness.
Then the Palio is awarded, celebrated and carried in triumph.
While the winning contrada goes in glory and success, the others are conscious of their defeat.
The supporters of the winning contrada carry the Palio in triumph around the historic centre of Torrita until they arrive at the contradas’s headquarters where everybody is invited to the celebrations.
The Palio is not only a donkey race. The festival lasts for more than a week during which various events follow one after another.
For example, the opening of the ‘Taverne’ (typical country style restaurants offering traditional local cuisine) in the historical town centre, the draw and combinations for the heats of the race in the presence of the mayor and the captains of the eight contradas, the display by the flag-wavers in which important and well-known groups in medieval costume participate, the presentation of the Palio in the presence on the painter and local authorities, the sight of theatrical spectacle and the propitiatory dinner in every contrada.
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