Wandering Sardinia

The Palio di Siena. Nah. L’Ardia is way better, but you probably haven’t heard of it.

Sedilo and l'Ardia

Updated Jan 02, 2021

If you’re a fan of that wimpy race called Palio di Siena, you might like the rougher version, Sardinia’s l’Ardia di San Costantino, run on a dusty track on the grounds of the Sanctuary of Saint Constantine, which was run this weekend.

The video of l’ardia below is from Angela Corrias’ excellent site called Chasing the Unexpected, from this post: Video: S’Ardia, running a wild horse race for faith

The interesting thing is that the race looks absolutely the same as it did in the early 1980s. The dirt track still kicks up a lot of dust and stones, the crowds are lively and packed in more tightly than sardines never imagined, and the riders are as daring as any you’ll find. (Many of them run in that secondary race called the Palio di Siena; Sardinian riders are highly sought after.) Here’s a little about my first l’ardia

The video will give you a great idea of how the race is run:

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