The Palio di Siena: EMG Italy in the saddle for historical horserace By Roberto Landini, Italian Correspondent
Monday, July 15, 2024 - 15:51
Print This Story
The Palio di Siena is much more than a simple horse race. It is a unique event and a celebration of Sienese identity and historical tradition, an occasion for the city's contrade, or districts, to display their pride and rivalry, and a way to honour the protectors of Siena, the Madonna of Provenzano and Mary of the Assumption.
The Palio is held twice a year, on 2 July (Palio of Provenzano) and 16 August (Palio of the Assumption), in the city's Piazza del Campo. It is one of the oldest and most famous events in the country, with a history dating back to the Middle Ages. Today, the race consists of three laps around the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo, with 10 contrade of Siena participating, each represented by a jockey and a horse with their own colours, emblem and motto. The event attracts almost 50,000 spectators to the city.
From medieval history to technological innovation
EMG Italy has been covering the live broadcast of the two races for the Consorzio per la Tutela del Palio di Siena, a consortium made up of the 17 contrade of the city that has the task of protecting everything that is part of the historical heritage of the Palio di Siena, for three years. The event is broadcast live on La7, Canale 3 and Siena TV, and streamed live on Gazzetta dello Sport, via website and app. During the days leading up to the race, Siena comes alive with presentation ceremonies, the setting up of the square, and various test runs with the horses.
Anna Pasculli, sales manager of EMG Italy, says: Given the layout of the city and the narrow streets of the historic centre around Piazza del Campo, we do not operate with a mobile unit on site but with a control room housed in flight cases, set up inside the foyer of the Teatro dei Rinnovati, with double access from Piazza del Campo. The general setup also includes two stand-up positions for the LA7 journalists who, on the edge of the track, traditionally called the career', comment on the final moments before the race begins.
The square was recently wired with fibre optics, making setup and dismantling much easier and more efficient. Given the new arrangement, EMG Italy today only needs to make the connections from the TOC, the operational centre of the broadcasts where signals are monitored and distributed, to the control room and from the fibre points to the cameras, then maximising the directorial and spectacular value of the entire event.
Pasculli continues: With ten cameras, we cover the entire track, including two in special positions: one mounted in the Sala del Mappamondo and a Jimmy Jib on the terrace of Palazzo Sansedoni, headquarters of the Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena. The crew we deployed to enhance this great event made of tradition, technology, and emotion is composed of 20 people.
Sienese celebration and television excellence
The Municipality of Siena and the Consorzio per la Tutela del Palio collaborated to install fibre optics in Piazza del Campo to simplify any type of production. Following a non-invasive plan, the administration had already installed corrugated pipes for future use near the public lighting power points and the typical video positions for the Palio filming. This allowed, in a subsequent phase completed a few weeks before the 2 July edition, the project to be implemented.
The project involved the installation of 500m of micro cable with 48 single-mode optical fibres, 200m of micro cable with 24 single-mode optical fibres, six extraction and termination sockets with 12 optical fibres each, and the termination of the two cables in Piazza del Mercato. The new infrastructure has restored the aesthetic of the square, eliminating the unsightly cables that until last year were temporarily fixed to the terrace railings for a total length of about 6km. It also made the laying and removal procedures of these same cables obsolete, ensuring greater safety during the setup of any future event.
The Consorzio per la Tutela del Palio
Fulvio Bruni, CEO of the Consorzio per la Tutela del Palio di Siena, states: The idea of wiring Piazza del Campo had been conceived a long time ago to solve a problem that was raised every year, namely the laying of about 6km of visible cables that connected the control room to the camera positions following the races. Today, the passage through underground ducts has totally solved these problems and brilliantly respected historical, urban planning and aesthetic constraints, integrating useful technology in an important historical context and in complete safety. This has allowed EMG Italy, chosen for the third consecutive time as the TV producer of the Palio di Siena, to arrive on site this year with the equipment only four days before the event and to connect everything very quickly.
As a Consorzio, he continues, we can boast an excellent collaboration with the television production structure of EMG Italy. Thanks to their competence and knowledge of our sometimes-stringent needs, we manage to improve the overall result of the product every year. We are very satisfied not only as a Consorzio but also as citizens because the Sienese see the images of the city, as well as the Palio itself, enhanced to the best possible extent.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
07/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/04/2026
Designed for synchronized multi-stream playback, low-latency delivery, and real-time analytics, MATCH introduces a unified viewing experience for sports broadca...
07/04/2026
Berklee Students to Honor George Martin with Performance of Original Scores The orchestra, led by associate professor Xander Rovang, will perform several work...
06/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
06/04/2026
From high school sports all the way up to the major leagues, building high-quali...
06/04/2026
Quickplay, an AI company for the media and entertainment industry, has been accepted into the Advanced tier of the TwelveLabs Ecosystem Partner Program. Quickpl...
06/04/2026
Grass Valley has announced the Future Playmakers Program, a global initiative to...
06/04/2026
El l der de operaciones impulsa la producci n en estudio mientras encuentra insp...
06/04/2026
The ops leader helps lead the charge in studio for the Spanish-language broadcas...
06/04/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
06/04/2026
The National Hockey League (NHL), in partnership with Verizon and the New Jersey Devils, today announced the opening of the NHL Innovation Lab powered by Verizo...
06/04/2026
Rock League, a new professional curling league, has announced that ESPN+ will stream its inaugural 2026 season for fans in the United States. The first Rock Lea...
06/04/2026
Advanced Systems Group has announced the appointment of Andrea (Andy) Cummis as Vice President of Systems Design and Engineering. In this role, she will lead de...
06/04/2026
Backed by Bolt Ventures, the venture brings Bryson DeChambeau, Grant Horvat, and...
06/04/2026
With this environment we can start that collaboration even earlier because we ca...
06/04/2026
Like the immortal lives of vampires, some stories never really end. That's t...
06/04/2026
As podcasting continues to evolve, growth increasingly means building beyond aud...
06/04/2026
Multiband dynamics plug-in enhanced
California-based developer FSK Audio have released a significant update for their innovative multiband dynamics processo...
06/04/2026
Share official & user-created full-rig presets
IK Multimedia's latest TONEX update makes it possible for users of the popular amp and effects modelling ...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Dalet Showcases Dalia Agentic AI and End-to-End Media Workflows at NAB Show 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Dalet, a leading technology and...
06/04/2026
OpenDrives Shows Off Sports Expertise in Sports Business Hub located in NAB Show...
06/04/2026
Proton to Demonstrate 3D Application at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Yet further creative potential unleashed through innovation in ...
06/04/2026
Autoscript Highlights Voice-Driven Prompting and PTZ Solutions at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Experience Autoscript Voice, PTZ prom...
06/04/2026
Mediaproxy Highlights Significant Enhancements to its LogServer suite at NAB Sho...
06/04/2026
Wayne, N.J., April 6th, 2026 Phantom High-Speed announces the release of PCC 4...
06/04/2026
April 6th, 2026
TRIBECA STUDIOS AND LILLY ANNOUNCE WINNERS OF INAUGURAL VITAL...
06/04/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Expands Kids Entertainment Lineup With Playground App ...
05/04/2026
Tackles all reported bugs!
SoundBridge have just announced the launch of a new update that introduces a couple of minor changes to their remote collaboratio...
04/04/2026
The University of Arizona's Men's Basketball team has only loss twice th...
04/04/2026
1080p HDR arrives, a new generation of storytelling tools takes center stage, an...
04/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
04/04/2026
Faster, cleaner and more intuitive than ever
The control software for Flock Audio's digitally controlled patchbay systems has just been treated to an up...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
DHD Introduces AI-Based Audio Noise Reduction to XD3 IP Core
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
The accompanying image shows the rear panel of the ...
04/04/2026
Macnica Redefines ST 2110 Flexibility with Two Speeds on One Card
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
New for NAB Show 2026, MEP100 SmartNIC now sup...
04/04/2026
Unified Media Workflows for Story-Centric Production
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
Framelight X unifies field capture, editing and publishing ...
03/04/2026
Michigan's Fab Five will reunite for an alternate presentation of the Mich...
The Palio di Siena: EMG Italy in the saddle for historical horserace By Roberto Landini, Italian Correspondent 
