In the gorgeously preserved Tuscan hill town of Siena, Italy, the Middle Ages seem to survive in the architecture and in the civic spirit. The city is known both for its pride and for its independent ...

“For the Sienese, here’s one’s life story: You’re born…there’s the Palio…and then you die.” While the race itself lasts just 90 seconds, it’s preceded by days of festivities. As the big day approaches ...

It’s perhaps Italy’s most famous annual sporting event. But Siena’s Palio is as much about pageantry, civic identity and Sienese pride as it is about a bareback horse race that lasts, on average, just ...

Jammed shoulder-to-shoulder in Siena’s main square, tens of thousands of revelers swivel in a shouting, joyful mass, craning to see 10 horses thundering around the Italian city’s Piazza del Campo.

Animal-welfare activists are demanding that the famous Siena Palio and other Italian horse races are shut down as concerns grow over the number of animals dying on the streets of ancient towns. Staged ...

Jockeys ride their horses in the iconic Palio di Siena race, held twice a year. Photo by Carlo BRESSAN / AFP Italy's hotly-anticipated Palio di Siena horse race is back - but what exactly is it and ...

Participants pass the Casato curve in front of spectators during the traditional Palio horse race (Il Palio) in Siena in 2011. Il Palio is held twice a year in the Tuscan city of Siena, in which ...

The Siena-born director of a compelling new documentary about the historic Palio horse race on the passions, plots, food and sights of her Tuscan hometown The Palio in pictures Siena is an incredible ...

Thousands of spectators gather in the Tuscan town of Siena for a bareback horse race through the main square. Twice a year, almost without fail since the mid-1600s, the Palio di Siena has been held in ...

In the gorgeously preserved Tuscan hill town of Siena, Italy, the Middle Ages seem to survive in the architecture and in the civic spirit. The city is known both for its pride and for its independent ...