Corteo Storico
The Corteo Storico is a historical costume parade in Siena, Tuscany, Italy. It takes place before the famous horse race known as the Palio on the 2nd of July and on August 16, each year. Description. The parade has always occurred before the Palio since the race’s inception. It is a formally choreographed triumphal march that commemorates the ancient institutions, customs and greatness of the Republic of Siena. Special attention is given to the Contrade whose participants form the main part of the parade. The parade takes place in the Piazza del Campo with 14 groups and  a total of almost seven hundred participants. In the early afternoon, on the day of the Palio, members of the town gather in the courtyard of the Palace of Justice and under the command of the field marshal, line-up in Piazza del Duomo next to the Cathedral. They parade between the crowd on both sides of the streets called: Via del Capitano, Piazza Postierla, Via San Pietro, Via del Casato di Sopra and Via del Casato di Sotto where they join the other members of the parade. The procession enters the Piazza del Campo on the first toll of  the bell (the "Sunto") on the Torre del Mangia. Seventeen pairs of flag-bearers stop at the various points in the Piazza and in synchrony with the drum roll perform a spectacular flag-waving exhibition culminating with the throwing of the flag at the end. The parade marches to the "passo della Diana" ("passo" means step), the musicians of Palazzo play the march of the Palio of the maestro Formichi while the city trumpeters play on silver trumpets. The central focus of the procession is the passing of the Carroccio, the modern counterpart of the Republic's ancient triumphal chariot  on which the silken colourful Palio banner is hoisted. After circling the square, the parade members take their places. The Palio is hoisted on to the judges stand while the seventeen flag-bearers perform their own drum roll, "la sbandierata della Vittoria" (the flag-waving of Victory), so called because it was introduced at the end of World War I.