Twice a year, the Italian city of Siena goes crazy for the oldest horse race in the world, the Palio. Unlike the average equestrian contests you find in places like Saratoga or Churchill Downs, in the Palio, strategy, bribery, and corruption play hugely important roles in winning. At the center of it all are the jockeys. Loved and loathed by the districts they represent, they forge alliances and make deals with team managers and other jockeys, promising large cash sums to try to get the best starting position. Palio is the thrilling story of a young outsider, Giovanni Atzeni, who is keen to break into the dangerous but lucrative race, and Gigi Bruschelli, the corrupt insider—and Atzeni’s former mentor—who has manipulated the city of Siena for over a decade. Their passionate and dramatic battle is an epic and cinematic tale of Italian life in microcosm, and a story that makes for one of the most exciting documentaries in recent years.