Palio di Siena: L'Atmosfera

Tradition, pride, faith, ritual, and color: Through photographs and audio, I wanted to convey the intense atmosphere of Il Palio over four days in August 2011 in Siena, Italy.

Il Palio is a horse race held every July and August in which ten of the 17 contrade (neighborhoods) of Siena compete in Il Campo, the city's central piazza; the remaining seven are entered into the next race. There is one winner, no stopwatch, and no cash prize. For the most part, the contrade race to win extremely valuable bragging rights over the rest of the city. Il Palio is centuries old, rivalries are ancient and fierce, and the traditions are still faithfully performed primarily for the Sienese themselves; it is not merely a show for tourists.

The sounds of Il Palio are as rich as the visuals: you constantly hear church bells, snare drums, horses' hooves, and fight songs echo off the stones in the old medieval streets of Siena.

Want to learn more about how I created this video and what I learned? Head over to my blog: bit.ly/​PalioAtmosfera

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Palio di Siena
• Il Palio
• Palio
• Siena
• Italy
• horse
• race

[PGWINNTRAVELS]

Awesome! I was there in August and you did a great job of capturing the atmosphere. I liked how you used sound like the drums and the church bells. I wish I had recorded audio when I was there. I have a similar video called Days of the Palio. Check it out.

[alexfox51]

Bello.