So with the narrow cobble streets and these structures as a backdrop for a historical event, all it takes is a town full of citizens in costume to make you feel you have been transported back in time.
The format of the festival is a competition between the neighborhoods within the town. Each section of the town is decorated with the neighborhood banners. The one above is for our section "Borgo Vechio (or "old town").
These three young ladies on horseback back are a very convincing trio of nights on patrol. It would be easy to imagine the one on the right as a Joan of Arc prepared for battle.
On Saturday there was a parade through one of the old sections of town to the Piazza Conte Rosso in Borgo Nouvo (new town... not exactly "new" by our standards....). Representatives from each part of the city paraded in neighborhood costume and colors. Most neighborhoods included a drum corp, people carrying neighborhood banners, people in costumes representing the typical range of society from wealth to worker as well as military representatives. And each neighborhood had a horse and rider that would represent them in the ultimate contest of the weekend.
Following the parade there was a historical reenactment in the piazza. We didn't really follow the story but it was clear that the arrival of Conte Rosso himself (more or less Prince Charming in this case) was central to the story.
In case any local maidens got ideas, his countess arrived very shortly after.
Below we see the full royal court observing the festivities.
The final event was another parade with everybody in full costume again. This time directly down our narrow cobble street and our front door at about eleven in the evening (actually Queen Bee and I were about to go to bed when we heard the crowd begin to pass by). I was only able to grab my little pocket camera an snap a few shots before its battery died. (sorry... even if I got this turned the right way in i-Photo, Goggle loads it the wrong way...).
The really amazing thing is how many of the towns citizens put in the effort and investment to prepare for this event. I am guessing there was nearly three hundred people in that final parade. The costume are consistently remarkable and seem very authentic. As I mentioned before, with so many people dressed convincingly and the architecture of the surroundings, it is very easy to imagine you are living in the past for a weekend.
