23/03/2016
My grand-dad's brother, Arturo Bocci (1887-1939), said Rancanino, came from Siena. He used to be a jockey in the Palio and ran it 27 times. He won the race 5 times between 1906 and 1928. There is a section dedicated to him in Wikipedia. In 1920 he won both races, Provenzano and Assunta. This is called in Siena "to make a cappotto", a brilliant result reached by a scarce number of jockeys. Seems that in the Palio dell'Assunta he had sold himself and the victory to the Contrada dell'Istrice. At the final round of Piazza del Campo he was in second place, behind the jockey of the Istrice and eventually he made up his mind to win and passed him over... losing big money but writing his name in the history of the Palio for ever and ever.
Now the subject of a new documentary, Palio, Italy’s 800-year-old horse race is steeped in tradition and drama. Gaia Squarci filmed this year’s competition f...
