Palio dei Comuni 2026 Montegiorgio: trotting classic with a classic car parade

The Palio dei Comuni is first of all a horse race. The 38th edition of the Palio dei Comuni Lanfranco Mattii is a Group 1 trotting race over the mile with prize money of 165,000 euros, held at the Ippodromo San Paolo in Montegiorgio on Sunday 29 November 2026. Heats named after the trotters Pascià Lest, Moni Maker and Dryade des Bois lead to the final. Each runner represents a town, and the 2026 organisers mention more than 20 towns from the Marche, Abruzzo and Umbria.

The classic car link is the parade. La Manovella del Fermano lists the Palio on its 2026 calendar, and at the 2025 edition the club's classic cars and local Vespa clubs led the Grande Sfilata on the track at 13.00, ahead of the Army's mounted unit and the Cavalli del Catria.

Montegiorgio's autumn race meeting ends with the Palio after meetings through October and November. The race was devised by Lanfranco Mattii and staged by Mario Mattii, and it has its roots in the late 1960s, when trotting boomed in the Marche.