Palio del Daino

A peace treaty turned timeless festival

The Palio del Daino is the most famous event in Mondaino, a small hilltop village in the Valconca in the Province of Rimini, in the heart of Emilia-Romagna. For four days, the town transforms into a Renaissance court, re-enacting the 1459 meeting between Count Federico da Montefeltro and Sigismondo Malatesta, lord of Rimini, who signed a truce between the two great lordships right in Mondaino. That peace treaty is the common thread of a festival that has drawn thousands of visitors to the hills for almost forty years.

The four competing districts

The competitive heart of the Palio lies in the four districts into which the village is divided: Borgo, Castello, Contado, and Montebello. Throughout the event, they compete in ancient games, duels, and skill tests, manage the taverns, and liven up the streets with parades and ceremonies. Victory awards the Palio until the following year, and the rivalry between the districts is the spice of the entire festival.

The games that award the Palio

The challenge is decided through three tests set in the picturesque Piazza Maggiore, the famous 19th-century "round square" surrounded by neoclassical arcades:

• The crossbowmen's tournament: the districts' shooters aim at a small target placed above the square's arcade; points are counted and determine the order of access to the subsequent tests.
• The goose race: the districts, in the order determined by the crossbowmen, choose their goose and must encourage it with shouts and calls to run towards the square, without being able to touch it. The district that finishes last is eliminated from the final.
• The Gioco del Daino: the final test, similar to the "four corners" game, where participants wear a headdress shaped like a deer's head and compete for the bases around the square, until the winning district is proclaimed.

The medieval village comes to life

Beyond the races, the Palio del Daino is above all a total immersion in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Along the narrow streets and in the round square, soldiers, knights and ladies, jesters, acrobats, minstrels, jugglers, and stilt walkers move about. Over a hundred selected artisans re-enact ancient crafts — maiolica painters, armourers, luthiers, weavers — while falconry displays, Renaissance dances, and itinerant performances entertain the public from afternoon until late at night. A medieval camp with cooking fires, tents, and farm animals is set up in the area of the former Clarisse convent.

The districts' taverns

Each district manages its own tavern, with menus inspired by the regional cuisine and flavours of the past. These are places to stop between shows, sit at large communal tables, and enjoy traditional Romagnola dishes in a timeless atmosphere. The taverns are an integral part of the competition between the districts and one of the reasons why the Palio del Daino is considered one of the most successful re-enactments in all of Romagna.