What does the assignment of the horses consists of?
Once the 10 horses are chosen, they get assigned to the Contradas that are participating to the Palio by means of a lottery. The lottery usually takes place between 0:30 PM and 1:30 PM in the jam-packed Piazza del Campo. It is a moment of prime importance for the Contrada members beacuse only after they know the horse with which they must run the Palio they can put their strategies into place. It is therefore a moment of great tension, evidenced by the exhultation of those whose Contrada drew a good horse, and the disappontment of those who didn’t draw such a good horse.
