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Arts feature

Palio exposes the bribery and violence that lies at the heart of Siena’s lawless ritual

A new documentary lifts the lid on the Italian horse race-cum-medieval pageant where you're hospitalised for coming second

19 September 2015

8:00 AM

19 September 2015

8:00 AM

If you don’t want to spend hundreds of euros on a good seat, the best place to watch the Palio di Siena is by the start. For my first time — decades ago — I arrived early in the apron-shaped Piazza del Campo and sweated out the long afternoon as a tide of tension rose.

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Palio is in cinemas from 25 September.

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