RARE PHOTO: The Palio di Siena

A rare early photo of a friar blessing a jockey and his horse prior to the Palio di Siena, a horse race held twice each year in Siena, Italy. The Palio di Provenzano is in honor of the Madonna of Provenzano and the Palio dell’Assunta in honor of the Assumption of Mary. The race consists of 10 horses and their bareback riders racing for three laps around the piazza. It is common for a few of the jockeys to be thrown off their horses while making the treacherous turns in the piazza, and it is not unusual to see unmounted horses finishing the race without their jockeys. Hence the blessing!