Third Sunday of September · Annual · Saturday medieval procession
For the twenty-one contrade of Asti, the historical reenactment companies in fifteenth-century costume, the delegations of the seven invited comuni of the Monferrato, the corporate sponsors of the Palio Foundation and the municipal administrations that accompany with their own merchandising the week of the Palio Storico di Asti — the medieval procession, the sbandierata on the eve and the calendar of ceremonies that precedes the Sunday bareback horse race.
The Palio Storico di Asti is the medieval procession in fifteenth-century costume that on the Saturday of the third week of September winds through the streets of Asti's historic centre before Sunday's horse race. The event is rooted in the historical reenactment of the triumphant entry of Marquis Gian Giacomo Tizzoni in 1457, with a procession of more than twelve hundred participants in late-medieval dress that parades through the city among flag-throwers, drummers, ladies, knights, crossbowmen, jesters, artisans and the delegations of the twenty-one contrade of Asti. The Palio Storico opens the Settimana Astigiana, which closes with the Sunday race, and it is the moment when the city's historical tradition dialogues with the local audience, with the delegations from the Monferrato and with the corporate sponsors who accompany the event.
For the contrade, the reenactment companies and the sponsors preparing merchandise around the Palio Storico, the window is dual and concentrated. Saturday afternoon of the procession concentrates the spectacular component — flag-throwing, flag duels, javelin displays, dances — within a narrow window of a few hours during which thousands of people watch the parade pass by. Saturday evening and Sunday morning are instead dedicated to the institutional parts — the eve gala dinner, the propiziatoria, the trials — that lead into the race. For corporate teams that want to cover the entire weekend we propose a programme split across both moments: on Saturday with lightweight, high-volume items for the procession audience, and on Sunday with more representational pieces for the delegations and the contrada friends who follow the race.
Coordinating artwork, per-contrada quantities, delivery windows and named recipients is what keeps the kit on the eve gala table or in the contrada stand rather than stranded in a courier warehouse. We run pre-production (physical sample, Pantone colour map referencing the contrada coat of arms, debossing proof on wood, ceramic and leather, screen-print proof on medieval-checked cotton), production on Italian supply chains — Scandicci leather, Maniago steel, Caltagirone and Faenza ceramics, Capannori paper mills in Tuscany, Collodi wood, Como silk — and delivery to an Asti hotel, a contrada headquarter or a sponsor residence on a slot the cohort has confirmed. For programmes that mix procession participants, contrada friends, Monferrato delegations and corporate hospitality, we split into labelled lots per audience, with separate delivery addresses if a Milan- or Turin-based sponsor wants a share of the kit collected from its own office rather than from the Asti hub. For teams following both the Palio Storico and the Douja d'Or wine event in September we replicate the lots per date and run the logistics across both windows with a single operations contact.
A recurring case for our clients is the eve gala dinner and the contrada dinners on Saturday evening: the guest count is finalised only close to the procession and the menus are often customised with the colours of the contrada that traditionally opens the procession. In these jobs we propose a neutral graphic base — coordinated marks applied to placemats, coasters, wooden place cards and small cardboard — and add the winning-contrada details in a second wave at short run, so that each guest finds a coordinated keepsake of the evening. For procession participants who want a small personal kit — silk foulard, ceramic cup, wooden object — we replicate the pieces in a separate pack that is delivered directly to the contrada venues on Saturday afternoon. Print quality on FSC-certified paper and organic cotton is a frequent request for brand teams, and we handle it with screen-printing and digital-printing partners registered with FSC and GOTS certification circuits.
On the commissioning side, the Palio Storico di Asti is supported by the Comune di Asti, the Comitato Palio and a range of corporate sponsors — local banks, banking foundations, wine houses of the Monferrato, producer consortia, fashion brands, Piedmontese industrial groups — who intervene at different contribution levels and who wish to be present at the procession with their own merchandising that is consistent with their image while respecting the historical frame of the event. For teams pairing the Palio Storico di Asti with the historical calendar of the Monferrato (Douja d'Or, Fiera del Tartufo di Asti, Sunday Palio di Asti) we replicate the logistics across the different weeks and set up a single annual supply contract with revisions per date.
Sangallo-style wooden frames, hand-painted ceramics in contrada colours, silk ribbons, ceramic trays and small leather goods engraved with the heraldic coat of arms and the colours of the contrada that wins the Palio.
Medieval-checked cotton tote bags, printed cotton handkerchiefs, small pennants, brass pins and collectable low-cost items for distribution to the audience during the Saturday afternoon parade.
FSC-certified paper branded notebooks, drinkware, paper-bound event programmes, leather coasters reserved for the sponsor stands and corporate delegations watching the procession from reserved balconies.
Silk foulards for procession participants, Faenza ceramic tasting cups, turned wooden place cards and printed dinner menus for the eve gala dinner and the corporate events of Saturday night.
Before production begins, lock the artwork, per-recipient quantities, packaging and the named reception point. The exact contrada or sponsor headquarter finalises only against the current hospitality list close to the procession — the procession route itself is a public space and cannot be used as a parcel-reception address on the day. Asti's ZTL (limited traffic zone) and night traffic restrictions condition courier access, and most teams combine an Asti hotel or contrada seat with pickup from the venue itself on the day of the procession. For teams running multiple contrade in the same edition we replicate the logistics across two or three nodes, so that each contact finds its own lot within minutes of the workplace rather than travelling across the historic centre during the road closures.
For an event in Asti we usually propose a central Asti hotel or contrada headquarter as the primary delivery point, with optional second-leg delivery to a Turin office if the sponsor prefers to take possession of the kit after the procession. B2B goods stay within Italy under standard CMR with packing list; for clients subject to CSRD (D.Lgs. 125/2024) we attach a Scope 3 CO₂e sheet per GHG Protocol on the Lombardy–Piedmont route, and on request we integrate the sheet with the data of the production districts involved. Cold-store logistics is not required for this event, but we regularly coordinate temperature-controlled deliveries for wine producers joining the eve gala dinners with their own tasting tables.
All Italian B2B orders are invoiced in EUR at the standard 22% VAT rate (with reduced 4%, 5% and 10% rates where applicable by product category) and routed through the Agenzia delle Entrate's Sistema di Interscambio (SdI) to the buyer's codice destinatario or PEC address. Corp-Merch.IT is a registered Italian VAT operator, listed on VIES for intra-EU operations, and handles reverse charge, split payment and pubblica-amministrazione self-invoicing under current Italian rules. For corporate clients subject to IFRS reporting we also produce an attachment with the valuation of inventory and equity contributions split between income statement and balance sheet.
Eight to ten weeks is the safest window for production in Italy and shipping to an Asti hotel or contrada headquarter in time for the Saturday morning trials. Six to seven weeks work when the product mix is simple and the artwork has been signed off. For teams following both the Palio Storico and the Douja d'Or we replicate the lots and the window stretches to ten weeks.
No. The procession route is a public space and cannot be used as a parcel-reception address on the day. We deliver to an Asti hotel, contrada headquarter or sponsor residence, with a courier slot agreed the day before. For the morning trials we propose a 24-hour hotel in the immediate vicinity with a confirmed deposit.
Yes. Reenactors, sponsor guests, Monferrato delegations and corporate hospitality can be packed and labelled as separate lots, with different delivery addresses if needed. For programmes involving multiple contrade we replicate the lots per hub and consolidate in cases labelled per logistics node.
No. Corp-Merch.IT is an independent external B2B supplier that helps contrade, reenactment companies, sponsors and delegations prepare their own merch. It does not organise, sponsor or represent the Palio Storico di Asti, the Comitato Palio di Asti, the Comune di Asti or the contrade themselves.
Corp-Merch.IT is an independent external B2B supplier for participating companies. This page helps contrade, reenactment companies, sponsors and delegations prepare their own merch around the Palio Storico di Asti. It does not represent the Comitato Palio di Asti, the Comune di Asti or the contrade themselves.