Palio of the Crossbow

The Palio della Balestra, organized by the Associazione Balestrieri di Sansepolcro, is an annual event to which the city has never failed to participate since the fifteenth century, competing for the title of winning city with Gubbio, its historical opponent, in the crossbow shooting.
The game consists in shooting the arrows of the crossbow from a distance of 36 meters in the center, or dogwood, of the target.
The atmosphere that hovers through the streets of the city catapults the spectators on a journey through the ages, recalling the typical costumes of the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, the medieval dances, the markets scattered here and the streets and flag games that festive atmosphere that was then and still remains on this occasion.
The tension caused by the ever-gripping dispute between the two cities, the eagerness to win of the villagers, the hopes that are crowned or that are broken. This is precisely the spirit of the Biturgese September.

It takes place on the second Sunday of September.