Behind the scenes at The Palio, Siena's iconic horse race. 
Restriction: None
The Palio takes approximately 75 seconds to run. Three laps of the dirt track around the Piazza del Campo and it's all over. Not much to sustain a tradition for over 350 years you might think. But of course the Palio di Siena is much more than just a horse race. It is also a spectacle, a pageant celebrating the magnificence of the city-states of medieval Italy held in one of the most beautiful civic spaces in Europe. It is also living history for the residents of the contrade or districts of Siena which compete against each other in the race. Traditions, rivalries, animosities and alliances dating back centuries still resonate with the people and they find their ultimate expression in the rituals of the Palio. Photographer Maurizio Rellini goes on campaign with Nicchio contrada and discovers the heady mixture of the sacred and the profane, the traditional and the modern that gives the Palio its unique flavour.
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