Palio della Vittoria in Anghiari

On Friday June 29th Anghiari celebrates the famous Battle with the traditional Palio della Vittoria.

A bit of History

In 1440 Anghiari was the background to a famous and violent battle between the Florentine Republic led by Micheletto Attendolo and Giampaolo Orsini and the Milanese army led by Niccolò Piccinino. Florence won and most of central Italy remained in the hands of Florentines.

To celebrate the victory of Battle of Anghiari, the Florentine Republic commissioned the decorations of the main hall of Palazzo Vecchio, with scenes celebrating the victories of the Florentine armies. Michelangelo was commissioned to paint the Battle of Cascina and Leonardo da Vinci the Battle of Anghiari. Nowadays Leonardo’s painting is lost since it was covered with a fresco by Vasari. Several studies are looking to find out if Leonardo’s work is still there behind the work by Vasari.

The Palio della Vittoria in 2012

Since 1441 the Palio, traditional horse race, was held every year, except that it was interrupted in 1827 when a jockey died because of the violent collisions. The historical re-enactment of the Palio della Vittoria starts at 10am when Anghiari goes back to the Renaissance thanks to hundreds of figures in costume.

At 6pm all the figures gather in Piazza Baldaccio where the Palio is announced.

At 7.30pm the costume parade departs from the Cappella della Vittoria.

At 8.15pm the horse race starts and the winner gets the beautiful Palio.

For more information visit the official website of Anghiari.