The Palio in Parma is quite unique - ouritalianjourney.com

Palio di Parma

Palio di Parma graphic

You have no doubt heard of the famous Palio horserace held twice a year in Sienna, Italy. It is an amazing event; one which we still have not yet attended but is on our “bucket list”. It seems other areas of Italy also have Palio races. We happen to see barricades being put up in Piazza Garibaldi. We then discovered that Parma’s version was being held that day!

The Palio takes place in the afternoon. After the performance, the five groups of flag wavers move the festivities to Piazza Garibaldi for the parade and races.

This post contains affiliate links that help keep this website running. By purchasing through our links, we make a small commission at no extra charge to you. Thank you for your support!

20160918_170049
20160918_172708

Since 1978, the Palio di Parma has been reorganized by The Italian Sports Centre in Parma. There are three-speed races, a donkey (children riding), a women’s race (the Green Cloth Stroke), and a race of men (the Scarlet Corsa). Each race represents one of the five gates. The donkey racing was quite amusing as some of the donkeys decided they didn’t want to race. Those got pushed most of the way! The women’s and men’s races were what we know as “relay” races where each team of five passes the “baton” to the next person. We were standing mostly with the blue section (New Door) so we were rooting for them. We won 2 out of the 3 races this year!!

20160918_162127

In addition to the races, there are costume parades and battles of medieval warriors. Each of the five gates of the city is also represented by a different group of flag wavers who perform several times in the two days of festivities.

Take a Trip to Italy!

Join others who have purchased and read our book – leaving heartwarming reviews!
Join our journey – we’d love to have you along for the ride!

Books by Ilene and Gary Modica, ouritalianjourney.com
5_porte

Here is the color breakdown:

MottoColorsChurch Symbol 
EagleGreenChurch of the Holy Cross 
MottoColorsChurch Symbol 
WolfBlack & WhiteChurch of the Santissima Annunziata 
MottoColorsChurch Symbol 
UnicornBlueSant’Uldarico 
MottoColorsChurch Symbol 
DragonYellowChurch of St. Sepulchre 
MottoColorsChurch Symbol 
LionRedChurch of San Francesco del Prato 
Parma's different porta map
Ilene from Our Italian Journey, ouritalianjourney.com

2 Comments

Leave A Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You might also enjoy: