Italian
After two postponements due to bad weather, the thirteenth success for Atzeni, who rode Anda and Bola to the second victory at the Palio
When on the stunning and crowded Piazza del Campo the sun had long since bid farewell and a very elegant crescent moon, dressed for the evening, made its small, proper, suggestive appearance, the Palio dell’Assunta, the race, was about to begin, after a very long, neurotic start, a perfect prelude to a race that, despite its predictable progression and absolute dominance, did not disappoint. Tittia, we said, who completed the hat trick having triumphed also in July, gifts the Nicchio and its contradaioli a victory that had been missing since 1998. And for this reason, starting today, the contrada sheds the cap and the grandmotherly dimension to hand it over to the Chiocciola. Tittia, it was said, who at the ropes forces the start three times, moves from right to left contributing to raise the temperature, making the weather good and bad, with the tufo, today dry and eager to host the race. But the race must wait a long time, with Renato Bircolotti, the starter who sends the row of mischief-makers back outside the ropes four times, with the barbareschi and their white cap who have a big job to cool down the horses, hot and nervous. But when yet another delay looms, this time not due to Jupiter Pluvius but due to the darkness, they set off, with Tittia choosing the perfect timing and leading the race from the very beginning, despite starting from behind, and decides to have no hesitation, cutting perfect trajectories with the authoritative demeanor of someone who says that today it will work this way, crossing the finish line in the company of that solitude which today means triumph. But the finish has a shocking epilogue, with Atzeni being thrown off his horse, in the immediate chaos after the race and is hospitalized at the Scotte, although purely as a precaution, with Anda and Bola fortunately unharmed. A real shame on the day of Nicchio’s triumph and the death of Varenne.
