Green flag in Siena: the Palio dell'Assunta postponed to Monday, August 17

Rain began falling on Piazza del Campo around 1.30pm today, turning into a downpour in the early afternoon. At 3.43pm, after a meeting between the mayor, the Captains and the Deputies of the Festa, the green flag was displayed from the mullioned windows of the Palazzo Pubblico: the Palio dell’Assunta will not be run today (SienaFree; La Nazione; Radio Siena Tv).

The postponement is not a discretionary decision made on the spur of the moment: it is provided for by Article 90 of the Regulations for the Palio, which allows it when the tufa of the track becomes impassable and the safety of horses and jockeys cannot be guaranteed. The green flag is the signal by which the decision is communicated to the city even before the press, and it is the only means of announcement that precedes the rite.

The new schedule

The Historical Procession and the race will be held on Monday, August 17 at the same times originally scheduled for today: the horses are set to leave the Cortile del Podestà at 7pm. The ten competing Contrade remain those drawn — Selva, Chiocciola, Oca, Nicchio, Lupa, Istrice, Torre, Aquila, Onda and Giraffa.

The postponement is weighed down by a weather uncertainty that did not end with today: for Monday, August 17 the Regione Toscana has issued a yellow alert for storms. This means the same decision could have to be repeated.

A figure that is not an anecdote

According to Radio Siena Tv, this is the fifth postponement of the last six Palios. The race of July 2, 2026 had also been postponed. This is the most interesting figure of the day, because it shifts the story from a matter of bad weather to a matter of scheduling: an event that in the great majority of its recent occurrences has not taken place on the established day has a structural problem of seasonal placement, not a string of bad luck.

It is worth clarifying what this figure says and what it does not say. It says that five of the last six editions have been rescheduled. It does not say why in each case — the available sources document the reason for today’s postponement and that of last July 2, but not the others — nor does it allow the sequence to be attributed to a single cause.

The cost of the postponement

The postponement of a Palio does not concern only the race. The entire festival day is shifted: the Historical Procession that precedes the race, the horses leaving the Cortile del Podestà, the crowd filling Piazza del Campo and the windows overlooking the ring. Shifting everything by twenty-four hours means redoing that organization with only a day’s notice.

The outlets that reported the decision trace back to the same primary source — the communication from the Comune di Siena and the meeting between the mayor, the Captains and the Deputies of the Festa — which makes the fact solid but the origins fewer than the available links might suggest.

The next check is set for Monday at 7pm, when the horses leaving the Cortile del Podestà will show whether the yellow alert has translated into a second postponement.