Vita gazette – Covid-19 stops the Palio di Siena on August 16 for the second year. There are no ideal conditions.

For the second consecutive year, Covid-19 cancels the traditional Palio di Siena on August 16, the so-called Palio dell’Assunta. Until the last, it was hoped to be able to carry out the long-awaited event but the ongoing health emergency did not make it possible. Luigi De Mossi, mayor of Siena, at the end of the meeting with the prefect Maria Forte and the commissioner Costantino Capuano explained: “There are no conditions to run an extraordinary Palio. Exceptions to a rule that provides for stringent measures have been assessed but these exceptions must come directly from the Government. At the moment we are not allowed to hold our party. The Palio is a celebration of freedom and people. We are aware of the health emergency but I think it is better to do nothing than to do something totally different from the Palio “.

In its history, the Palio of Siena had not only taken place on the occasion of extraordinary events. The first time was on 16 August 1723 due to the death of Grand Duke Ferdinand II of Tuscany, then in 1855 due to a cholera epidemic. Coming to more recent times, the Palio was canceled in 1940 and 1944 for the Second World War.