Palio di Siena horse race 2018

Pictures from the twice-annual horse race around the narrow streets of the historic Tuscan city on July, 2nd, 2018.

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I've been to this in 1996 before, I will not forget the atmosphere, the excitement of this event. At that time I made slides, these are the things in the plastic frames, for those who still knows that.

No beamer or flatscreen, no people, piece of work that is projected with light on a wall and bores all who have never been there. A shit social media was that, because you have lost friends who have never forgotten this boredom.

Now I was there, vaguely remembering what makes this race.
In the city center, there is a huge market square, which is framed by 3 to 4 storey historic buildings. Between the square and the buildings, the artificial racetrack runs only for this event.

The horses, who enter the race for their 12 districts each, are called to their stating position individually. Without a box, so they can still move freely.

When horse number one, two and three have taken their place, number four shies away and does not want to take its place. So it goes on for hours until everyone has found their place. There are many false starts, but woe ...

Woe when the race starts. It's only three laps, the crowd is raving. The riders do not allow each other the dirt under their fingernails, with hard bandages they fight to the last shirt. Even the horses are not spared and in minutes the winner is identified.

I admit that the nature of the race is at a borderline for both animal and rider.
One can argue about whether this is still contemporary, but let's be honest ...

Traditions have a deeper meaning that we can not always grasp today. The fascination, the pride of the individual districts and the daring of the riders is a piece of deeply grown culture. I'm proud to have been there and have been part of it and I'm proud of my slides (what's that shit, man!)