Palio of Legnano

On the last Sunday in May in Legnano the traditional Palio festival takes place that commemorates the homonymous battle of May 29, 1176, in which the allied municipalities in the Lombard League defeated the imperial army of Frederick I, known as Barbarossa. In the afternoon, more than a thousand extras in medieval costumes with clothes, shields and weapons faithfully reproducing the attire and objects of the time parade through the streets of the city. The celebrations end with an equestrian event involving the eight historic districts of the city that challenge one another in a bareback race on a track built inside the municipal stadium.