Cuffie

Cuffia is a symbol they give at the contrada that has not won the longest. They also say “contrada nonna”.

• The term cuffia is recent and dates from the 1950s. A cuffia is the white cap that grandmothers wear.
• The date of July 2, 1719, the victory of Aquila who had not yet won a Palio until then is considered the start date of this statistic.
• The absolute minimum to become “nonna” is 8 years, as there will have been 16 races in that period, which means that all contrade may have won. However, this has never happened. What we have seen so far is a series of 12 different neighborhoods that win over a 6-year period. This happened between 1872 and 1877. (Tartuca, Istrice, Chiocciola, Pantera, Drago, Torre, Valdimontone, Nicchio, Civetta, Bruco, Lupa, Oca).
• OCA and TARTUCA have never worn the “cuffia”.
• To date, the cuffia has been transferred 14 times in July and 17 times in August.
• Nappa managed to make 3x the cuffia disappear for the contrada for which he rode: Pantera (3.7.1904), Aquila (16.8.1906) and Chiocciola (2.7.1911) were the lucky ones.
• Biggeri, on the other hand, first passed on the cuffia to Lupa by winning for Aquila on July 2, 1796, but also managed to “free” Lupa on August 16, 1809.
• Leocorno is record holder by not winning 55 consecutive Palios while they were nonna.
• Aquila and Selva are the only neighborhoods that got rid of the cuffia after a victory with a scosso. Aquila on July 2, 1852 and Selva on August 16, 1953.
• Lupa is the first neighborhood in history to get rid of the cuffia with a cappotto (2016).
• 1 contrada have not yet won in the 21st century: Chiocciola (agosto 1999).

More info in our PalioApp.

Last update : 20 august 2026