Palio canceled in July, low probability of the August Palio
Yesterday afternoon, Mayor De Mossi proposed a resolution in the city council to cancel the Palio of July 2 due to the restrictive measures that the pandemic entails and which means that the state of emergency in Italy will last until July 31.
However, they still want to keep a (small) “window” open regarding the August Palio. It is clear to us that they will not deviate from the date of August 16 as stated earlier. The resolution gives the mayor the mandate to cancel the Palio if the health condition does not move in the right direction, which means the Italian government would not open the gates to major events.
Moreover, it was decided that the cancellation of the Palio di Provenzano “has no effect on the current penalties of the Giustizia Paliesca, even if the Palio is canceled in August, nothing will change”.
On July 31 there may be some changes regarding the events but objectively it seems difficult to organize the August Palio. However, the city council wants to keep the option of organizing a Palio until the last minute.
Given the state of emergency lasts until July 31 and in view of Article 20 of the Regulations of the Palio, it will be difficult to organize the estrazione in a safe, covid-proof way. Article 20 stipulates that the draw of the contrade must be held at least 20 days before the Palio. In the case of the August Palio, this is July 27, 4 days before the expiry of the current state of emergency and ban on major events. So we actually believe that the organization of the August Palio will have little chance of success.
The gate for a Straordinario at the end of September, beginning of October is still open and seems to us to be the only possibility to see tufo on the Piazza.
