Palio di Lodi

A truly unique palio

The Palio di Lodi has a characteristic that makes it unique in the world: the horses do not race. They are wooden horses mounted on wheels, pushed by the jockeys of the districts along the perimeter of Piazza della Vittoria. A spectacular and popular formula that, since 1986, the year of the first edition promoted by the Wasken Boys group, has become a fixed autumn event in the provincial capital. In 2026, the event celebrates its XXXVII edition, scheduled for Sunday, October 4.

History comes alive

The Palio has its roots in the Peace of Lodi of 1454, the treaty between the Italian powers that the population celebrated, according to tradition, with races of carts. The historical procession reenacts the great episodes of the city's history: from the founding of Lodi by Federico Barbarossa in 1158 to the Peace of Lodi, up to legendary figures like Fanfulla da Lodi of the Disfida di Barletta.

Competitions in the square

The heart of the Sunday are the three competitions that award the Palio:

• Ring Joust — the jockeys, on horseback, must spear the rings placed at the four corners of the square's quadrilateral with their lances;
• Puledrìn — the race for children and teenagers, who complete a lap of the square on horseback;
• Cursa dei cavai — the race with wooden horses pushed for three laps around the square.

A Sunday of celebration

The day opens in the morning with mass in the Cathedral and continues in the afternoon, from 3 PM, with the grand historical procession of the districts parading in costume through the streets of the center before battling it out in the square. Colors, drums, flag-wavers, and costumed figures transform Lodi into a large living fresco, in one of the most heartfelt reenactments in the province of Lodi and Lombardy.