What is the reward to the winner of the passionately contested horse-race?. Well, in material terms, the prize is only in the form of a banner, depicted below. But the honour and pride of coming out victorious is something that cannot be valued in any tangible material terms. The contrada that wins the race will have the right to put up the coveted 'banner' at the town-house of their contrada for the whole duration of the year. It will be put up there as the 'pride' of the contrada...
The design of the 'banner' is a subject of an annual art competition held earlier in the year and the winner will be selected by a committee representing the council of the city of Siena. The competition is open to artists from all over except from those who are of Sienese origin. And being a celebration in honour of the Madonna - the design must have a depiction of her, of the colours of the city, the symbols of the 10 competing contradas etc. etc....
The winner for 2010 was Mr Ali Hassoun - ( and for the first time) a painter who was born in Muslim Lebanon, but came to study art and live in Siena in 1982 and is now based in Milan. And his design has become somewhat of a controversy.
the prize for the winner of the 2010 Palio...
a banner designed by Mr Ali Hassoun...
Ali Hassoun painted St George as a knight wearing a black and white keffiyeh. He also painted the Madonna ( Mary) wearing a crown bearing the symbols of Islam, The Christian Cross and the Star of David representing the Jewish religion. Above her head, in Arabic Calligraphy he wrote "Surah Maryam", which represents the 19th Chapter of the Koran which is dedicated to the Madonna.
"The Palio talks about spirituality, about religion, about the possible encounter among the three monotheistic religions of the world that allow us to transcend our own faith..."......said Mr Ali Hassoun.
But some ultra-conservative Christians in Northern Italy ( who recently were also obstructive in permitting the construction of mosques in Milan etc) were critical of this choice. However, the council of the city of Siena has gone above this polemic and allowed 'art' to be expressed above and over rudimentary religious differences....
Bravo...Siena....
Ali Hassoun's depiction of the "Madonna" on the 2010 banner...
Mr Ali Hassoun...
Below are some of the art works of Mr Hassoun...
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