Come on Back to the Middle Ages

Montepulciano

I love wandering around the cobble streets of small villages in central Italy, gazing up at the stone houses built so long ago and so close together; emerging into a sun-filled piazza, anchored at one end by the church and the other by the town hall, and marvelling, as I sit in a pleasant café, at how little has changed since the Middle Ages.

Siena

 These villages were all developed long before the automobile and so the streets are narrow, made for pedestrians, along with the occasional beast of burden. Built high on hilltops for protection, they have remained small and people friendly to this day. The more sensible village councils have banned cars from inside the walls, save for service vehicles. It is as if the tourist just took a step backward into the Middle Ages.

going to the parade in Volterra

However, the thing that really impressed me was how these families, who obviously have lived in the same place for centuries, still maintain the customs and traditions of medieval times. 

Each village is divided into areas or wards, called contrada.  A small village like Montepulciano, has about four contrada, while the big town of Siena has seventeen. Of course that is vastly reduced from their original seventy-four.

Each of the contrada has its own colours, its own flag and its own marching band. The inhabitants all have medieval dress of one kind or another which is brought out and worn proudly at festival times. 

banner in Gubbio

At certain times of the year, the flags and banners are hung from the houses; there are parades and eventually a medieval festival, usually in the summer time, featuring a contest between the contrada. You can imagine how these traditions draw in the tourists.

the contrada of the dragon in Siena

One of the most famous is the palio of Siena: a world famous bareback horse race around the massive and sloping central piazza, which is filled with truckloads of dirt for that one contest which takes months of preparation and which is over in seconds. Only ten of the seventeen contrada take part each year so there is a process for choosing the three repeaters that will fill out the roster. We were lucky to catch that parade and that process on the day that we entered Siena. 

the Dragon contrada is chosen to be in the palio 

It was such fun to be part of the huge crowd in the square after the parade of the Contrada of the Dragon and to watch the second floor windows of the town hall,   open one at a time for, first, the heraldic trumpet fanfare followed by the emergence of the flags of the three successful contrada that would round out the ten contrada competing this year. The roar of the crowd was deafening, the songs of that contrada, were sung fortissimo and the young men went crazy leaping about and shouting as the flag of their contrada emerged victorious.

guards with crossbows in Volterra

practicing with bullocks in Larino

But there are many kinds of contests, other than horse racing, hearkening back to the skills of medieval times. In hilly Montepulciano, renowned for its wine, teams of young men push barrels up the steep and winding streets to the cathedral; in Volterra, they have a target shooting competition with crossbows; in Larino, they have a race of carts pulled by bullocks; in the large piazza of Arezzo, there is a jousting competition on horseback, and these are just a few.   

Scanno

Then to round off the festivities there is singing and dancing, eating and drinking for, after all, this is Italy, and they know how to have a good time. It is a lovely thing to be part of especially when you realize these traditions have been going on long before Europeans came to Canada.

from the castle San Gimignano

children practice drumming in Gubbio

words of the contrada song

They teach the youth how to drum and to march and to wave the flags and to compete in the various contests. We were in Gubbio just a day before their medieval festival and we saw and heard the little boys practicing their drumming and marching through the streets in the early evening in preparation for the big event in the days to come.

flag waving is an art in Siena parade of the Dragon contrada

As you might have guessed, these contests features the young men of the village, full of energy and displaying the strength and enthusiasm of the young.  I have to compare this with so many other countries where testosterone-filled young men engage in terrorist activities, join gangs and fuel conflict between factions in a very real and violent way. My vote goes to the Italians who encourage the youth to expend their energy in a contest that hearkens back to olden days, which provides much entertainment for visitors, keeps the family traditions alive and gives much cause for celebration when it is over.

through the Etruscan gate, up the cobbled streets, Minas returns to the Middle Ages in Volterra