By Laura Bonelli

The word "Palio" defines the prize and the race and overall the whole festival. Palio derives from the Latin pallium, a term used to indicate a drape of fine enveloping cloth, almost a mantle. The Pallium was therefore a precious cloth banner, often velvet lined with vaio fur, sometimes vermilion velvet lined with yellow, silk, damask or brocade. Its size could vary up to thirty-two Sienese arms and its use could change by circumstances. These artifacts were not always preserved, they sometimes served as furniture for parishes or for lay companies that insisted in the territories of the Contrade.
During the seventeenth century the palios continued to be made of smooth velvet or brocade, embroidered in gold and with pearls; the material value was pre-eminent over the symbolic one so much so that almost always the artifact was sold to pay the expenses of the race. For example, some news that report the chronicles of the Palio of August 15, 1633, won by the Tartuca and also illustrated by a famous engraving by Bernardino Capitelli, report that "from the balcony of the Town Hall, a long piece of fine cloth hung: it was the prize for the winner”.

[art. 93: For both ordinary and extraordinary races, the winning contrada is awarded by the municipality a Palio (Drappellone di seta dipinto) from which the festival has its name. According to tradition, it carries on high, for the race of July 2, the image of Mary Most Holy who is venerated in the Church of Provenzano and for that of August 16, the image of Mary Assumption into heaven. It always bears the date of the race, the coat of arms of the Balzana, possibly together with the other two of the Municipality, the coats of arms of the ancient Terzieri of the City and those of the Mayor in office and the ten Contrade that run. As for the allegorical part, in the ordinary Palii, if the Municipality does not believe to prescribe the subject, the painter is free to propose it, while for the extraordinary Palii, which may also have different shapes, beyond the date and the heraldic figures indicated above must be made in a prominent way to the circumstance, or the event for which the race was carried out, so that it can constitute an authoritative historical document. The Drappellone is solemnly transported, for the Palio of July 2, in the Church of S. Maria in Provenzano, and for that of August 16, in the Duomo, respectively before the general rehearsal and before the third rehearsal and remains exposed there until it is hoisted on the Carroccio, for the Historical Parade. The transfers are attended by the Representations of the City and the Magistrate of the Contrade, the Deputies of the Feast, the Priors, the Drummer and two Bishops of the seventeen Contrade, all previously gathered at the Town Hall. The Palio remains the property of the winning Contrada, which however has the obligation to return the silver plate to the City within the year, which surmounts it. Art. 94: The painting of the Palio or Drappellone referred to in the previous article is commissioned by the Municipal Administration to the artist chosen by the same. The Municipal Administration may call from time to time, if it deems necessary, a competition in compliance with terms that ensure the competitor at least thirty days for the presentation of the draft and the winner of the competition at least sixty days for the execution of the work. The task of establishing the modalities of the competition is up to the City Council, which also appoints the Commission responsible for judging the submitted drafts and designating the winner. The Jury will be composed of the Mayor, or a Councillor delegated by him, who chairs it, by four members, one of whom will be appointed by the Magistrate of the Contrade. After the selection all the designs considered suitable will be exposed to the public. For reasons of opportunity or urgency, the painting of the Palio can be commissioned directly by the City Council to a trusted artist. ]

This drape had a rather daring history and in the end, about fifty years later it seems that it was dismembered and reused for other purposes. In the Palio of 15 August 1650 the archives of the Compagnia di San Domenico in Camporegio report that the Contrada del Drago made a gift to the Compagnia del "Palio di damasco cremisi con fregio bianco, e con fodera di taffetà bianco e nero, e insegna della nostra Balzana"; according to some documents of the Compagnia di Santo Stefano, the Contrada del Nicchio, following the victory of the Palio on 2 July 1662, donated to the Compagnia "a crimson damask double in height and with green frieze plus a damask in the middle, along arms twelve lined with red taffeta with green frieze with red, and green ribbons" and a "Paliotto with the Holy Virgin of Provenzano with Arms of the Ill.mi Mr.ri Vecchi, Ballads, and Colombini as Lords of the party". Otherwise, for the Palio of July 2, 1692, as reported by the chronicles of the Contrada Capitana dell'Onda the palio was "a silver basin weighing five ounces, 7 denarii and the prize one ounce, 0 silver denarii". And so, contrary to what we are led to believe, the Gentile Arms and the image of the Virgin, did not appear on the main prize, which in the case was a basin or a damascus and on which very little could be painted, but on another type of cloth, supported by an auction, better known as "frontal" that in the eighteenth century will be called a banner.