The Palio di Pienza: And You Thought Cheese is for Eating

Yesterday's blog post was all about the preliminaries that preceded the games.  Today we get down to the real competition.

The poster advertising the games says it all.


The six rione of Pienza, each represented by a team wearing the neighborhood colors (see the six flags)...


...compete in the main piazza (the white building at the right of the poster is the cathedral)...


...to see who can roll a wheel of cheese closest to the pin standing in the middle of the square.

The contestants kneel on a rug about 30 feet from the pin.

The closer the cheese gets to the pin, the more points the team gets.

The captain of each team gets double points, so the pressure's on when it's his turn to roll.



There are three rounds of competition.



The wheel of cheese does not roll straight.  The uneven surface of the paving stones makes the path of the cheese unpredictable.


It's not as easy as it looks.

The video will look better if you enlarge it to full screen.

The crowd favourite was 92-year-old Armando Crociani.  He's been participating for well over 50 years.

In the end, it was Team Gozzante (in the green scarves) that pulled away for the win.

Our friend Remo was team captain.  He was the only contestant to hit the pin...and got double points for doing so.

The team from our rione, La Mura, (the dark blue triangle) was strong in the early rounds, but faded under pressure.

As Cubs (and Mariners) fans are used to saying, wait 'till next year.