Every year we go to the Palio when we´re around. The Palio is not only one of the most genuinely fascinating events in the world, it is very simply the oldest horse race still on. It is taking place twice a year in the same city which also hosts the oldest bank in the world still on. Siena. The more you think of it, the Palio might just be the perfect metaphor for Italy. It is historic, it is beautiful and nobody knows how it works. Yesterday however was a truly historic day, even for Sienese standards. After winning the first Palio of the year in July, the contrada „La Lupa“ also won the second one in honor of the Madonna Assunta. Il cappotto. The last time this happened was 231 years ago. 1785. The year the first U.S. government gathered in New York City, Napoleon became a lieutenant in the French army and Mozart published his „Haydn Quartets“. This is the true dimension of the Palio.