Stanley Tucci Celebrates Palio Di Siena Amid Controversy Over Horse Treatment

Instagram/@stanleytucci

Stanley Tucci went onto Instagram to post a strongly nostalgic entry about his experience of the Palio di Siena, an event held for almost 400 years in this Tuscan city. Last year, an evident appreciator of Italian culture himself, the actor posted a throwback picture about the event, calling it an “extraordinary tradition.” This is essentially a bareback race of horses between rival neighborhoods (contrade) of Siena, steeped in local history and pride. However, time went and Tucci’s post became a battleground in which spirited debates on animal welfare were held, one set condemning the event as cruel and obsolete.

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But this isn’t just any race: It’s a win-or-lose, give-no-quarter duel in which jockeys outright whip their horses and sometimes one another in a mad scurry around Piazza del Campo. Supporters of the Palio claim horses are goat-starred and pampered, while those against will bring out any injury or death that ever happened to said horses, and it seems like it happens almost every year. Along with the promotion of Tucci’s travel show ‘Tucci in Italy’ on Nat Geo, Disney+, and Hulu, his post gave spray to the upcoming of the race.

One user expressed outrage against the event with all his passion: “Horses shouldn’t suffer for human entertainment. Haven’t we learnt anything about how deeply intelligent and magnificent they are? To make animals suffer in 2025 for tradition is NO EXCUSE anymore!” Comments by others fueled the conversation: “This is not a work of art nor a superb tradition… every year horses die for what?! We are no longer in the Middle Ages.” Some compared the race to bullfighting, deeming it “barbaric.”

Opponents of the event were, in turn, met with equally strong responses from locals: “Horses in Siena are heroes and the symbol of our city; nothing cruel about it. It is a metaphor for life with all its emotions and passion,” responded one local. “They don’t know what they are talking about,” another entered the defense of the Palio. “This event is a 700-year-old tradition that defines the identity of the town of Siena.” Fast-forward, and the exchange degenerated into a string of insult exchanges, with someone telling another to “SUCA!” (which basically means “suck it!”).

Interestingly, there were a few animal lovers who didn’t go all the way down the anti-Palio spectrum. “I’m a horse lover, have attended the Palio, and quite frankly haven’t seen horses so well cared for and revered. Horses love to run,” this almost definitive voice was truly a rare but welcomed addition to the debate.

That prompted another commenter to derail the whole conversation: “Why not celebrate America on July 4?” This provocative comment unleashed a barrage of retorts from others concerning the somewhat messy history of American independence.

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Tucci, having kept his extraordinarily long silence over the eruption of controversy, remains a vested ambassador of Italian culture through his shows and social media. Whether the Palio ought to continue in its present form is a question that will likely be left unanswered for a very long time. For now, though, at least, the tradition goes on, for some welcomed and for others vilified: the focal point of that bigger battle between heritage and progress.