The Palio di Pienza

It's been a while since Carol and Roger have posted to this blog.  As we've settled in Pienza, there's less and less that's new.

But today, as Americans celebrate Labor Day Weekend, there's big goin's-on In Pienza.

It's called Gioco del Cacio al Fuso...or, "Game of Cheese."

Every rione (neighborhood), all six of them, had their flags out to support their team...

Even our apartment sported the neighborhood flag.

Just after noon, the tourist busses began rolling in...

This group was from Rome, but there were a lot of Americans among the crowd.

Since Pienza has the second-most famous cheese in Italy (and we think the tastiest), and...since the festival is about cheese...the vendors were out in droves offering samples to anybody who's interested.

The crowd quickly filled the grandstand and overflowed into the central Piazza.















A few lucky people had birds' eye views.











The festivities got started on Italian standard time (about 20 minutes late).





The color guard, dressed in medieval costume, marched into the Piazza Pio, followed by the town band....














....and then the stars of the show...



the sbandieratori.











Sbandieratori means, literally, flag throwers.


The skill dates back to the Middle Ages.


Today, the word has developed a secondary meaning in Italian...show-offs.


This gives some indication what one of their performances looks like (but more of that in a few seconds).

The tradition has made some concessions to modernity.



Nowadays, women are allowed to participate.













Here's a short video of what some of the flag throwing looks like... (It looks better if you expand it to full screen)

In our next post, we'll see the actual competition with the cheese.