Three days after the mare Tiffany’s death and other horses’ terrible falls, Ronciglione Mayor organized a meeting with some members of the municipal administration, of the local agency for tourism and of the Ronciglione Stables.

The resulting declaration could be considered even funny if not for the fact the topic is very serious (but maybe only we animalists consider it so?)

A mayor who yells, without showing a hint of shame for what happened, “Hands off the Palio”, declaring that “the priority now is the protection of Ronciglione citizens, of the stables and of the Palio future editions.”

An assessor who, poor him, complains about the troubles caused by the people rebelling against this slaughter and says, “It’s insupportable that every palio is a capital punishment for the town.”

The Stables association president who says, word by word, “We are the victims here.”

Best of all, a lawyer who gives proof of creative jurisprudence by declaring the organizers have been “obliged not to spread packed-dirt over the racecourse.” The truth is the packed-dirt has not been spread because it was feared it would hinder the sales of Ronciglione shop owners (who hoped to make a lot of business with the crowd gathered to see the horses), while in fact it was one of the main requirements the Health Ministers prescribed in order to allow the running of the palio.

So, while thousands of people in Italy and abroad ask us why such events are not abolished (simple common sense …), in Ronciglione they allow themselves the luxury of saying nothing happened and that we have no right to annoy them while they send horses to their death.

Well no, Mister mayor Massimo Sangiorgi: if you say “Hands off the Palio”, we say “Hands off the horses”.

And we suggest this idea for the palio future editions, since irony prevails above everything in Ronciglione: send the Mayor to run, spurred by the crowd’s whipping, with rollerblades and over a soap-slick stone road…

If you want to read the declarations and see the organizers’ faces, this is the article:
http://www.tusciaweb.it/notizie/2011/marzo/8_34ronciglione_corse.htm