Leonardo Scaletti Hit Five of Six Stars at a Gallop to Give Cavallo a Bagno a Ripoli Double

Contrada Cavallo won both the 47th Palio delle Contrade and the Giostra della Stella at Bagno a Ripoli, near Florence, on 13 September 2026, retaining the palio it won last year. Arezzo rider Leonardo Scaletti, on the 18-year-old mare Stella, decided the evening by hitting five of the six stars on offer across three runs.

The afternoon's folk games, a tug-of-war, an egg race, a sack race, a hoop race and a race with barrocci carts, left Cavallo on 27 points, one ahead of Torre on 26, with Mulino on 21. Scaletti then scored 34 points in the joust and also recorded the best time of the day in his second run.

Lorenzo Desimone, riding Jhon, was second for Mulino with three stars and 22 points, while Alessandro Ugolini of Arezzo, on the debutant mare Merylin, took two stars and 10 points for Torre. The final palio standings were Cavallo 32, Torre 29 and Mulino 25.

It was the third time Cavallo had won both titles in the same year, after 1993 and 2013, and it took the contrada's total to 11 palio wins. Scaletti also won the joust on his debut last year on the same mare. This year's Provaccia trial run was not held because rain had left the track unfit.

A historical procession in Renaissance dress preceded the joust, and Mayor Francesco Pignotti was among those presenting the painted palio by Florentine artist Carla Fossi. Organisers had planned to move the day to 19 September in the event of bad weather.