Why go
Notice the banner as art, not just a trophy. Its design combines Siena's emblems, the participating contrade and sacred references tied to the race. Because a different artist paints each one, the prize records the taste and concerns of its moment as well as the winner's achievement.
The full story
The word palio can mean the prize as well as the race; in Siena that prize is the drappellone, an elongated painted silk banner. It hangs vertically from a black-and-white shaft, making it visible during the ceremony and later in the winning contrada's care. The artist works within a fixed symbolic framework: the city and participating wards must be represented, together with religious imagery appropriate to the race. The July Palio is dedicated to the Madonna of Provenzano and the August Palio to the Assumption. Within those bounds, the style can vary from one commission to the next. Older banners have carried signs of different regimes and eras, so a sequence of them offers a visual history of Siena beyond the list of race results. The winning ward keeps the painted silk as the lasting prize.