A step back in time was experienced a few weeks ago in Arezzo. Normally l would have flinched at the idea of going to a medieval festival, the thought of Kryal castle comes to mind, or some nerds dressed in carbs from a fancy dress shop. But this was as close to the real thing as you can get. Jayne had found out about this months ago, and booked a room at the B&B we stayed at last time.
We travelled down by car with Nine Leigh who was staying with us, the usual car trip, l won't repeat it again, but l never take two hands of the wheel now! Woopsie, as Hunter says, l just remembered, it was actually quite an eventful trip, but maybe eventful that one wants to forget? Poor Ewan was sick, car sick on the way down, he blamed me for the peach l gave him for breakfast, which l cunningly told him, that was no peach, it was an nectraine , that did not seem to help as he vomited again, 30 minutes later. The first time we just got a beach towel to him in time, as we had no plastic bags, being so green, but Ewan for reasons we cannot say, decided not to use the towel to vomit in, he may well have been thinking it was his pool towel, and so vomited over his shorts and the seat. Nine was delighted! So we pulled over which is never easy on these autostrads, and changed his shorts and cleaned the seat, we then found a small plastic bag in the boot, just in case. Well luckily we did , as l said earlier he vomited again, perfect this time, right into the plastic bag, but the bag a slight hole in it, and when it comes to vomit in a plastic bag, a small hole or big hole is a hole. We finally arrived a hour late to pick up Elisabeth and Cesare who caught the train, and were staying at the same place. As luck may have it, at least luck for some, the small train we told Elisabeth to catch from the Arezzo station to were we where staying, only stopped at the stop if you asked it to. And it went straight past it, Elisabeth and Cesare, then went to the end of the line to catch the only train that works on that line back, this time being most clear to stop at their stop, so in the end we arrived before them!
Saturday afternoon we travelled into Arezzo and had a look around, catching up with one of Jaynes Italian friends, Gianni the antique dealer, who mentioned that all seat tickets for the festival were gone, but you could get tickets for standing on the day. Unfortunately something was lost in translation or in our crowd of people, but l shall go into that later. Jayne and Nine had a look around the antique market that happens every month, this time it was in the park, as the piazza was closed for the festival on sunday. Elisabeth and the kids and I went back to the B&B to have a swim, that night we had a lovely barbeque and looked forward to the festival.
We woke slowly, or some woke slowly, anyway, we set up a wonderful breakfast, Australian style, only to have the cleaners come in , seemingly surprised to see us still there and in particular having such a banquet at 10 am. So we gobbled a bit too fast, not the medically suggested 20 bites per mouthful, packed and headed off to Arezzo. The town was alive, found a park and walked into the central area. We walked around the streets, where every so often a marching parade of medieval people on horses, playing drums, soldiers, counts and countess's and town criers announcing the days proceedings (l think). The level of detail, and the quality of the leather boots was impressive, some of the wigs let them down, but the weird thing was that every person looked like the characters in any medieval painting. The Italian nose and face has not changed at all over 700 years. We then went of to get some lunch, as the event did not start till around 5pm, something which we wished we had known earlier. Well as usual l got bored sitting around so the boys and l headed off to look around, not a good idea, especially without a mobile, and not telling the others. Anyway we made our way to the piazza where l thought we could get a great pozzy to watch the event, which we found, but got kicked out of the piazza, as they were clearing it to allow all ticket holders only in. So l quickly went of to buy some tickets, found the place very quickly, thanks to my expert Italian, and bought 3 tickets for Hunter, Ewan and myself, thinking the others may have already bought some, hugh mistake.
Only minutes later we found the others, who had no tickets, l quickly pointed to the ticket office, now the expression l got a few minutes later from Jayne was not good. Even l could see she was not happy, so l quickly jumped to the best defence, attack and stupidity, not always in that order . Firstly saying , had you not got your tickets already, you know we needed them, big mistake; then, well l didn't know they would run out, l felt deep down a bit like Charlie and his golden ticket(s). So the expression from Jayne was now burning itself into my brain, so l offered my ticket to her, but the damage was down, so to keep it short, the boys and l went to the festival in the piazza and had the time of our life. An experience you should never miss, luckily l took photos for the others, and it was on television, so they could watch it in a bar.
Well it has taken the last few weeks for that event to slowly retreat from between us, and l feel safe to write it down now.
The festival is in two forms, firstly the street parades and marching up to the duomo to be blessed by the local priests, then the stage event with horses and army, which is about 400 people move down towards the piazza. In the piazza is seating for about 1000 people, and standing for about another 700. The dressed up group move in to the piazza and take corners, as there are four teams, identified by the colour of their clothing. We are treated to some impressive flag throwing, acrobatics and marching. Then the horses and horseman parade along a long dirt track set up diagonally across the piazza, entering and leaving from side streets. These horseman are jousters, two to a team. Now this is when, hey dad a bloke is selling some jousting sticks! whats he want for them? $200! dreamin! comes to mind. Anyway, you would easily get $200 for jousting sticks in Arezzo this weekend.
Now the crowd are like an AFL grand final, but there are four teams. The arch rivalry is incredible, each section of the crowd chanting at each other, people hanging from windows yelling out and waving flags, there was a flare let off near us, it was full on. Hunter and Ewan worked their way to the front rail and l sweated away amongst the screaming crowd, then the announcement that the first rider was about to charge, the crowd go silent. His job is to hit a man made from metal and wood, that spins round when you hit the white square on one of his arms, this square is broken into quarters with a central bulls eye. He chargers a full speed with jousting stick, its about 80 meters and hits the sign, a hugh roar goes up, and then silence a minute later as we wait for the judges to announce the score. When he hits the target it is quickly taken away and covered so know one can see the score, but the judges, just to add to the emotion. ( A seasoned follower near me had his SLR with telo lense, and captured brilliantly each hit, giving us near by an early idea of the score) Each quarter is given a score, 1,2,3,4 and 5 for a bulls eye, the first rider gets a 5!, and there is such a cry of joy and pain, yells of foul and faces of silence. I saw a man dressed in perfect garb of medieval style of 70 years of age, punch the air with excitement and then walk quickly in wild circles in a a dazed sense, as if he was the coach, the siren had gone, and there was a rookie with the ball, 60 meters out on the boundary, they are 5 points behind, and he cant do a thing.
Well each rider came out, scores of 2, 3, 4 but not another 5. The two riders scores are added and the winner is the one obviously with the highest score, there was no draw this year, but l presume they have a joust off.
From the actions of the crowd, l presumed there would be a fight, but no, all seems to calm immediately and they all walk off home, which in some cases is odd, as we saw three blokes in one car near us, all dressed in medieval clothing, with those terrific leather boots.
The only problem we had in the standing crowd was the local police, who are a bit of a joke, who stood around the the perimeter of the jousting area, blocking most of our view, unlike our police at the AFL grand final who sit. Plus next time l will bring a wide hat, as the sun was a killer, or better still get seating tickets, or for some just tickets!
The only good thing about Jayne not wanting to speak to me that day, was the drive home l was not told what l was doing wrong , well not often.
So if you are coming to Italy around the end of August you must go to Arezzo and see the jousting grand final. And never ever be so silly as not to get tickets for everyone. The good news is we are going back next year, l am hoping to get a part in the parade, just to wear those boots, and lets be honest l have the legs to wear stockings.
