Siena is portrayed both as a community sustained by the Palio and as the setting of a revealing episode in which fascist hostility breaches a popular celebration. On July 2, 1923, Giacomo Matteotti and his wife, Velia Matteotti, came to watch the race; after fascists recognized and attacked him, police escorted the couple away, and they were forced to leave the city before the contest began.

The Palio and Sienese Life

The Palio is described not as a custom revived for visitors but as part of the Sienese people’s continuing life. Since 1644, twelve Maremma horses, ridden bareback, have raced three laps around Piazza del Campo in barely three minutes. The city’s seventeen contrade give the contest its neighborhood divisions and collective loyalties; a few moments of jubilation amid the race are set against lives otherwise marked by submission and hard work.

The event’s importance is also apparent in the disagreement it provokes. Some socialists, including Modigliani, criticize the race’s spectacular brutality and the danger it poses to the horses. Matteotti nevertheless brings Velia to see it, treating the Palio as a rare occasion for diversion and as an expression of popular ardor. The couple join the stream of celebrants beneath the Loggia della Mercanzia as the historical procession gives way to preparations for the race.

Matteotti’s Expulsion

The festive gathering becomes a political confrontation when someone calls out Matteotti’s name as if identifying an outlaw. The men who recognize him are not wearing black shirts; they wear the bright emblems and colors of the contrade. Velia clings to her husband’s arm, and he shields her. Although scuffles between contrada supporters are familiar, the presence of a woman in the fray makes this encounter stand out even to onlookers.

A police car makes its way through the crowd and officers rescue the couple. They escort Giacomo and Velia to the station and expel them from the city so that the race can begin. The crowd’s celebration continues in Piazza del Campo while the couple are made to leave Siena. The episode thus turns a shared civic festival into a scene of political exclusion without preventing the public spectacle from proceeding.

The Record and the City’s Significance

That evening, Matteotti records the incident in his book: he notes that he appeared in Siena with his family, was attacked by fascists, and was forced to leave, while the police looked on helplessly. The brief entry offers no further comment. Its restraint contrasts with the scale of the interruption: a visit to a popular tradition ends in expulsion, and the account registers both the attack and the failure of the authorities to protect the couple.

Siena’s role in the narrative rests on this collision. The Palio gathers people into a time-honored civic ritual, but the attack shows that ordinary public space and celebration offer no reliable refuge from fascist intimidation. The race proceeds; Matteotti and Velia do not remain to witness it.