Notes from the Periphery: Congrats to Oca!

Winning Moment of July Palio 2007: Oca Wins (from D. Suo AP reporter)

Well folks as my last duty as the wayward European reporter I want to wish congratulations to the July Champion of Il Palio: Oca (The Goose). Every year for the past 1000+ years the city of Siena hosts a horse race around its Piazza which it affectionately has termed Il Palio (which I believe is Italian for insane suicide run). In the race the 17 sections of the town (known as Contradas) face off against one another. The entire year is built up for this one event (its like the Iron Bowl in Alabama but with less inbreeding). There are parties held from the various Contradas. Small children or midgets (I'm uncertain which) practice every day with their drumming, flag tossing and leaning tower making.

Apparently in the Middle Ages it was common to jump over flags as they didn't have any Sony Playstations back then to entertain themselves

Then about a month before the race is run, a group of wise old elders meets together to determine which of the Contrada's gets to actually run in the race (as the track is maybe 5 men wide and therefore too tiny for all the Contrada's to race). Given Siena's wonderful communist tradition the previous years winners are automatically excluded and then following Siena's wonderful Italian tradition a complex, arcane, opaque and probably bribery inflicted process determines which 10 Contradas are racing. Then there are more parties, drinking, and bureaucratic delays for the next month. Finally on July 2nd over 50,000 people (of whom at least 5 are sober) crowd the tiny town to watch the horses run around in a circle. Unfortunately for the safety of the horses (who spend their mornings pooping in churches) people are locked in the center of the piazza for the entire afternoon.

There are no bathrooms after 2 PM for a dusk race. You do the math...

This year the race was neck and neck between Oca (the Goose), a traditional powerhouse that had won more titles than any other contrada and the upstart ragtags of Nicchio (the Seashells which you can read as the Cleveland Contrada of Siena). Now I'm of course a card carrying member of Nicchio so we all know what happened next. Yes Via dei Pispini, home of the Fightingest of Sea Shells, is quiet tonight for Nicchio seized defeat from the jaws of victory, letting Oca claim the grand prize of first place (which is wearing a pacifier and carrying baby bottles. True Story). Anyway so Congrats to the Noble Contrada of Oca for the Victory. This Moretti is for you!