The Palio dei Borghi (Palio of the Villages) - with its Giostra dell'Oca (Goose Joust) - is a historical commemoration that takes place in Fossano, in the province of Cuneo, every penultimate weekend of June in the square where the Acaja Castle stands.
Each of the seven municipal boroughs - Borgo Vecchio, Borgo Salice, Borgo Piazza, Borgo Sant'Antonio, Borgo San Bernardo, Borgo Nuovo and Borgo Romanisio - presents its own island near the main town monuments. Dances, street games and costume parades take place on both Saturday and Sunday.
In the inner courtyard of the castle, the archers, with their Abbà and Abbadesse, nominate the jockey to whom they entrust their hopes of winning the Palio.
After the High Mass, on the Cathedral parvis, the Bishop greets the protagonists of the event and gives his blessing to the jockeys, horses and archers who will compete in the Joust in the evening.
There are two heats with four and three horses respectively: the first two classified in each heat will compete in the final. The archers' competition alternates with the horse heats: each village fields three archers, each of whom shoots six arrows at a target represented by geese moving from one side of the castle moat to the other. At the end of the competition, two respective rankings are drawn up for the archery competition and the horse race.
The sum of the two scores in the respective specialities contributes to the final ranking.
