Palio dell'Oca

Since 1400, four historic districts -Sant'Agostino, Sant'Angelo, San Francesco, and Sant'Andrea -have challenged each other every year on the second Sunday of August in what has become one of the most evocative and well-attended historical reenactments in the entire Marche region: the Historical Palio dell'Oca of Cagli.

Knights, archers, crossbowmen, and player pages compete in tests of skill, strength, and precision within the evocative Arena di Sant'Emidio. Nothing is left to chance: every step within Cagli during the Historical Palio dell'Oca is a step towards remote eras, amid faithfully reproduced costumes and ceremonies handed down from generation to generation.

The historical game reproduces the ancient board game composed of 54 tiles, each depicting arts, crafts, and characters of the Renaissance era. The four districts advance on the board based on the dice rolls, facing the challenges in the tiles where they stop. Victory belongs to the district that manages to reach, with an exact result of the dice, tile number 54: the one depicting the putto and the legendary White Goose (Oca Bianca).

The Associazione Giochi Storici of Cagli, founded in 1986, has brought this ancient ritual back to life by transforming it into a week of collective celebration. The historic center comes alive with nighttime parades with torches and drummers, challenges between crossbowmen and archers, Renaissance dinners in costume, and clarion shows. The four taverns of the districts open their traditional kitchens, offering typical Marche dishes in an atmosphere of yesteryear.

The prize of the Palio is the precious wrought iron goose, the work of Maestro Cerretini: a handcrafted masterpiece that the winning district has the honor of keeping for an entire year. Victory is not just sporting glory: it is the highest expression of the identity and pride of each district, a flame kept alive by hundreds of citizens of Cagli for almost forty years. Entry to the historic center is free for all days of the event; the only paid event is the final dispute at the Arena.