
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 ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
20/03/2026
Net Insight will introduce a JPEG XS solution for full IP environments at NAB Sh...
20/03/2026
LTN has expanded its technology partnership with Harmonic ahead of the FCC's...
20/03/2026
Solid State Logic will preview SSL Live V6.2 at NAB Show, booth C6907. The softw...
20/03/2026
FUJIFILM North America Corporation's Optical Devices Division has announced ...
20/03/2026
FUJIFILM North America Corporation's Optical Devices Division has announced ...
20/03/2026
TrueVisions NOW, a streaming platform in Thailand and part of the TrueVisions Group, has selected Bitmovin's Observability product for real-time video analy...
20/03/2026
Marquee Sports Network has announced distribution agreements with Hulu + Live TV and Prime Video ahead of the 2026 MLB season.
Marquee Sports Network is now av...
20/03/2026
FOR-A will exhibit software-defined and AI-driven solutions at NAB Show 2026, bo...
20/03/2026
TNA Wrestling and Eurosport India have entered into a multi-year exclusive progr...
20/03/2026
When Athletes Unlimited brought its professional women's basketball season t...
20/03/2026
In this craft interview, Rick Bernier reflects on a career that has taken him to...
20/03/2026
Lawo will announce a new product ahead of NAB Show 2026 in Las Vegas, where it w...
20/03/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
20/03/2026
Major League Baseball (MLB) has named Polymarket as its Official Prediction Mark...
20/03/2026
With AI now the industry-wide priority, Big Tech companies are uniquely position...
20/03/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
20/03/2026
Abundant player mics and RF and other ground-level cameras will be used to captu...
20/03/2026
Regional site will also receive big boost in production resources, including on-...
20/03/2026
By Jessica Herndon
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Fest...
20/03/2026
In 2021, we launched EQUAL, a program designed to address an industry reality that persists: Women artists, songwriters, and producers too often face fewer oppo...
20/03/2026
BTS' long-awaited fifth studio album, ARIRANG, is finally here. To celebrate...
20/03/2026
A new era for Kenia Os has arrived, and Spotify marked the moment by putting fan...
20/03/2026
Una nueva era para Kenia Os ha llegado, y Spotify marc el momento poniendo a lo...
20/03/2026
Combines sampling & physical modelling
Sound Magic have announced the launch of a comprehensive virtual drum instrument that's been designed to cater to...
20/03/2026
How much difference should mastering make?
In our latest Mix Rescue feature, SOS Editor in Chief Sam Inglis revisits a project from back in 2019, carrying o...
20/03/2026
Feast for cycling fans as SBS extends road cycling broadcasts to include all Gra...
20/03/2026
In this blog, Laura Rognoni reflects on key discussions from the Connected TV World Summit in London, where NAGRAVISION hosted a panel on content discovery and ...
20/03/2026
After a series of increases, February brought the first slowdown in time spent in front of TV sets in a long time. While traditional television was losing viewi...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
60 years of audio innovation, driven by the people who use it...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
Colombia's Icesi University and WSDG are proud to announce Ronald David Reyes as the recipient of the 2025 WSDG Excellence Scholarship, awarded to an outsta...
20/03/2026
Avid today celebrated the filmmakers, editors and sound teams that worked with Avid Media Composer and Pro Tools to create the vast majority of this year'...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
Real-time 9:16 AI-Generated Autocropping; Software-Defined Station in a Box; and Software Switcher with Unlimited Layering Are Among Show Highlights
For the fi...
20/03/2026
Signiant Showcases New Content Innovations Driving Visibility, Access, and Actio...
20/03/2026
Caffeine Relies on DaVinci Resolve Studio for End to End Post Workflow
Brie Clayton March 19, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Cloud helps Mexican post faci...
20/03/2026
Friday 20 March 2026
Sky Extends Saturday Night Live UK Run to Eight Shows
Ahead of Saturday Night Live UK's launch tomorrow (March 21), Sky has confirmed...
20/03/2026
It's time to play The Money List! Baz Ashmawy is back at the helm as the qui...