Middle Ages of the City

Chapter 5 Merchants and Bowmen: Middle Ages of the City

Once past, dreams and memories are the same thing. U. piersanti, L’uomo delle Cesane (1994)

It’s a beautiful day in May. We find ourselves in Assisi, the city of saints Francis and Clare. The “Nobilissima parte de sopra” and the “Magnifica parte de sotto” (the Most Noble Upper Part and the Magnificent Lower Part), which represent the districts of the city’s theoretical medieval subdivision, challenge each other to a series of competitions: solemn processions, feats of dexterity, songs, challenges launched in rhyme, stage shows. In this way, it renews the medieval tradition of canti del maggio (May songs), performed in the piazzas and under girls’ balconies by bands of youths wandering the city. A young woman is elect- ed Madonna Primavera (Lady Spring). We celebrate the end of winter, the return of the sun, flowers, and love. This medieval festival, resplendent with parades, flag bearers, ladies, knights, bowmen, and citizen magistrates, re- sounding with songs, tambourines, and trumpets, lasts three days and involves the entire population of Assisi, which finds itself, together with tourists and visitors, immersed in the atmosphere of a time that was. At night, when the fires and darkness move the shadows and the natural odors are strongest, the magic of the illusion of the past reaches its highest pitch:

Three nights of May leave their mark on our hearts Fantasy blends with truth among sweet songs And ancient history returns to life once again The mad, ecstatic magic of our feast.1

Attested in the Middle Ages, the Assisan Calendimaggio (First of May) reap- peared in 1927 and was interrupted by the Second World War, only to resume in 1947. Since 1954 it has assumed a more or less fixed configuration.2 If, starting

1 “Tre notti di maggio segnan nostro core | tra preziose note fabula se mischia a veritate | et historia antica se rinnova ancora una volta | folle gaudiosa magia de nostra festa.” As on the cover of the magazine, “Calendimaggio di Assisi,” i (April-May 2010), n. 1, p. 1. 2 Calendimaggio di Assisi, https://www.calendimaggiodiassisi.com/la-storia (cons. Apr. 28, 2019). On this festival see: T. di Carpegna Falconieri, L.E. Yawn, Forging “Medieval” Identities: Fortini’s Calendimaggio and Pasolini’s Trilogy of Life, in B. Bildhauer, Ch. Jones (eds.), The Middle Ages in the Modern World cit., pp. 186–215.

78 Chapter 5 from Assisi, we begin to wander through Umbria, we’ll find Terni’s Cantamag- gio, Foligno’s Giostra della Quintana (Joust of Quintana), the Palio dei Terzieri (Palio of the Thirds) of both Città della Pieve and Trevi, the Palio dei Colombi (Palio of Doves) of Amelia, the Festa dei Ceri (Festival of Candles) and the Palio della Balestra (Palio of the Crossbow) of Gubbio, the Giochi de le Porte (Games of the Gates) in Gualdo Tadino, the Mercato delle Gaite (Market of the Quar- ters) in Bevagna, the Giostra del Velo (Joust of the Veil) in Giove, the Corsa dell’Anello (Race of the Ring) in Narni, the Giostra del Giglio (Joust of the Lily) in Monteleone di Orvieto, the Palio di San Rufino in Assisi, the Palio di Valfab- brica… But the decision to start in Umbria is arbitrary. We could start our voy- age in Siena, home of the most famous palio in the world; from there we might wind up in Arezzo, where they celebrate the Joust of the Saracen, and then continue through Tuscany. Or, we could run through the Marches, attending the Quintana of Ascoli Piceno, and then maybe taking a jaunt to the Palio of Asti and the Sagra del Carroccio (Carroccio Festival) in Legnano, just to name a few notable festivals among the hundreds of imitators. Not to mention, natu- rally, the Medieval Days in San Marino, the city-state in the center of the pen- insula that has uniquely preserved the independence of a medieval commune, and is quite proud of it: here, medieval reconstructions may be false and con- trived, but liberty is real.3 Even in the south of Italy “medieval festivals” are common, if less densely concentrated and often combined with the memory of the Turks or the exaltation of sovereign dynasties: as in the Sfilata dei Turchi (Turks’ Parade) in Potenza and the Palio dell’Anguria (Palio of the Melon) of Altavilla Irpina. The festivals that involve the memory of Frederick ii of Swabia in particular are numerous.4 To make a long story short: throughout Italy, hundreds of cities and villages celebrate their own medieval festivals, especially during the spring and sum- mer. The same is true in many other European countries, with a density per square kilometer that sometimes, as in parts of France, for instance, rivals that of central and northern Italy. In the regions of Celtic inheritance, the delight in celebrations is especially evident: first and perhaps most importantly, the Fes- tival interceltique of Lorient in Britanny (est. 1971). In Champagne, Provins pub- licizes its fête médiévale by reminding you that the city is “The Middle Ages an

3 T. di Carpegna Falconieri, Liberty Dreamt in Stone: The (Neo)Medieval City of San Marino, in “Práticas da História,” 9 (2019), http://www.praticasdahistoria.pt/pt/. 4 R. Iorio, Medioevo turistico, in “Quaderni medievali,” xxvii (2002), n. 53, pp. 157–166; M. In- terino, Medioevo “reale” e medioevo “immaginario” nelle rievocazioni storiche contemporanee: Campania e Basilicata, graduate thesis, Università degli studi di Urbino, AY 2004–2005; M. Brando, Lo strano caso di Federico ii cit.; Id., L’imperatore nel suo labirinto cit.