| The Palio of Siena is world famous, but the people of Asti will tell you that theirs is older. The Piazza in which they hold the annual bareback horse race is not as spectacularly beautiful as that in Siena, which means it can keep itself nicely out of the international spotlight and be enjoyed by locals.
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| The "Palio" is actually the painted banner which is won by the region of the town which wins the horse race. In 2007 it was painted by famous Italian Jazz singer (and son of Asti), Paolo Conté.
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| The horse racing lasts around 10 mins in total (3 heats and a final, about 20 laps of a small square), but the festivities, parades and hype lasts all day and night.
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| The flag throwers from each region are a big part of the procession and command almost as much attention as the horses.
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| You thought the Grand National was bad - getting the horses to line up for the start can take half an hour or more, depending on how many false starts there are (which are, rather dramatically, signalled by firing a cannon!).
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| The 2007 Palio was won by a riderless horse - the rider, having fallen off at the second corner got well out of the way. The horse, enjoying itself, continued to run in the pack and, being lighter than its rivals, overtook in the final corner and won the race. The jockey was, of course praised for his performance!
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| Asti is, of course, more famous for its spumante...
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| ... which was on offer, free, all day!
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