Who's the one who attends to
alliances and enemies?
It's the Captain and his staff,
that is not the same one which runs the Contrada, and deals only with Palio. If the
Captain attracts some hostilities or alliances, the Priore and his collaborators take due
note of it and act consequently for extra-Palio activities too.
For a Contrada is
more important the victory or the enemy's defeat?
It's difficult to tell it a priori. If
the victory is of course the main goal for a Contrada which runs the Palio, it is also
true that the non-victory of the enemy is a condition sine qua non, and often one
prefer to give up the chances of victory to hinder the enemy which could have good chances
to win either. This event is celebrated by Contrada members almost like a real victory.