Giostra Saracino 2014

Flags have sprouted on all the buildings--above, the green and
red flag of our contrada, Porta Cruciferia, also known as the culcitrone

Arezzo has been gearing up for the 127th Giostra di Saracino since our arrival at the beginning of June. We heard the drummers and trumpeters practicing in the piazza a block away every night, saw the flag twirlers in the park, and even saw the horses tethered outside the local bars after the practices.

The city is divided into 4 quarters, called contradas.  Every night since June 14 our contrada has had an outdoor party a block from our apartment, including a DJ who cranks up the music around 11 pm and keeps playing until 3 am.  We stopped in one night around 11:30 and no one was there, but by 12:30 the place was packed.

contestants waiting for a chance for a practice run

They practice without the lances in the days before the joust

We saw these horses and contestants outside the bar on our way home from dinner

Porta Cruciferia participants practicing for the parade

There was a huge cena (dinner) for the contrada the night before the joust--over a 1000 people attended.  Pizza for everybody!

The history of the joust goes back to medieval times, when it was actual jousting (one knight against another), but the tournaments fell out of favor in the 1800s and were 'restored' in 1937.  In the modern version, 2 knights from each contrada participate in the joust, but not directly against each other.  They aim for 'the burrato which represents a 'saracen' and is named "Buratto, King of the Indies."    They receive points depending on where they hit the target held by the  buratto.  There are two rounds and the team with the most points wins a cup and bragging rights.  The Arezzinis are strongly partisan and the crowds in the standing room areas--mostly kids--are extremely vocal, like soccer fans who scream and jump up and down through the entire game.  Part of their strategy is to create maximum distractions to scare the opposing contrada's horse.  If the horse goes off the track, it is an invalid run and the score is zero. This actually happened once last night--a young horse balked, then ran off the track.  His rider got him back up to take a shot at the target, but no points were awarded.  We were warned before the joust that fistfights sometimes break out in the stands or on the field.  We did see a couple of shoving matches between the contradas, but nothing major.  A drunken young woman behind us kept yelling mild obscenities at one of the opposing contradas and stirred up quite a shouting match until her embarrassed boyfriend got her to sit down and shut up.

Of  course it isn't just jousting--the actual event is preceded by proclamations, a parade, performances by the drum and trumpet corps, a display of flag throwing and tumbling, and special cheers for Arezzo.  We arrived a little before 9 because the broadcast on Arezzo TV was supposed to start at 9--the stands were almost empty (it is a sold out event, you have to buy tickets the day they go on sale and they aren't cheap--40-60 euros each) the Italians showed up around 10 just as the event was actually beginning.

The competitors and participants paraded into Piazza Grande where the event was held.

 Piazza Grande looked spectacular, with coats of arms on the buildings and flags everywhere.

There were four groups of flag twirlers and it was impressive when they threw the flags through
the air to each other.

The judges ruled from on high (just like real life)

Even the horses dressed up

The Buratto of Indie--aka the target.  It twirls around when hit

The stands filled up right before the show started.  

Even though the score is solely based on where the lance pierces the targets, the judges took up to 5 minutes to hand down the score which is then read to the crowd by the MC.  For high scores, the fans go crazy.

The lance is handed up and the score is handed down.  The four sets of roman numerals are the scoreboard.  Our contrada's score  is the fourth one--he only got 2 points on the first round but redeemed himself with 5 on the second round.

The victors are awarded a golden lance.

Unfortunately, the golden lance went to the green & white team, not our  team.  Maybe at the next game in September.

The victor's flag

Our efforts to take a video on our little digital cameras were not highly successful, but here is a clip that shows a little of what was going on.

When the winner was announced, the fans went wild: