When spring comes, in Narni also arrives the Corsa all’Anello (=the Ring Race) one of the most important medieval reenactments in Italy, three weeks of ancient rites, ceremonies, games and parades of ladies, knights and minstrels. And, for a few years, the festival is repeated for a week in September.
The Corsa all’Anello and Narni which returns to Narnia of 1371.
La sfida (=The Challenge) is the first act of this event which, between the end of April and the beginning of May offers a full program of cultural, spiritual and culinary initiatives, which, in two and half weeks, accompany the most important event : the Corsa all’anello which on the second Sunday of May, the Terzieri di Mezule, Fraporta and Santa Maria challenge each other.
In September there is the La Rivincita (The Rematch) where there are again events and initiatives and the three Terzieri are committed in a new race to win the ring.
From 1372 the history of a long tradition.
De palio currendo in festo Beati Juvenalis de mense Maij.
Since the Middle Ages, no festival in Narni was more important, for magnificence and duration, of the one celebrated in honor of the first bishop of the city: Saint Juvenal.
The race in the Statutes of 1371.
It was the City Statutes in 1371 to codify what were the ancient rites and ludi that were held in Narni in honor of the patron:
- on 1 May the auctioneer made public the festive event;
- on the evening of the May 2, after the sunset, an imponent procession was celebrate: the luminary went under the wave of the banners accompanied by religious choirs and the sound of musical instruments, in the Cathedral where the Castles and the Guilds of the Arts were called to make their own offering of wax;
- on May 3, the day dedicated to San Giovenale, after a solemn religious ceremony in the Cathedral, the festival took on its own playful character, leaving room for the traditional equestrian games: the Palio race and the Ring race. The latter was reserved for Narnese knights who owned a horse; The Dominus Vicarius invited all those who wanted to run the ring to line up at the corner of the church of San Salvato in Piazza dei Priori and then lash out with their rod or bordone to put the target worth 100 Soldi Cortonesi (money cortonesi). The order of departure was established by the statutary norms according to the membership of the Military Brigades of the Terzieri in which the city was divided: Mezule, Fraporta and Santa Maria.
The race from 1969.
Was the Sunday of May 4 , 1969, the day of the first edition of the modern Corsa all’Anello: from that time, the event was enriched by events and initiatives and, from 2017, even by the La Rivincita which takes place in September.
The days of the Race and events not to be missed.
The calendar is really rich and starts , usually, from the penultimate week of April and ends the first Sunday of May when the initiatives take place day by day involving many local associations with the national ones.
Among the appointment to not miss :
- the Reading of the banno (Lettura del banno) and the passage of the auctioneer is the first initiative that, for centuries, opens the days of the race;
- The medieval days of Terzieri
- the Medieval ambiences with theater scenes which allow to relive some of the most characteristic places of the town;
- on the evening of may 2, the suggestive Offerta dei ceri (offering of wax) for the patron of the castles under Narni – tradition which takes place from 1227;
- on May 2 the celebrations for the Feast of San Giovenale and the subsequent historical Corsa all’Anello (ring race) in Piazza dei Priori;
- subsequent then , one for night, the traditional and suggestive Benediction of the Knights of Terzeri and the subsequent processione until the Cathedral;
- the evening of the Saturday before the Palio, the Great Historical Parade that sees parade over 800 participants;
- and the unmissable Corsa all’Anello at the Campo de li Giochi, preceded by the parade and shows.
Corsa all'Anello Association
Piazza dei Priori, 11, 05035 Narni TR
The Corsa all’Anello is held at two different times of the year:
- The Challenge – on the second Sunday of May and is preceded by two and a half weeks of events;
- The Rematch – in early September and is preceded by a week of events.
The events of the Corsa all’Anello are placed inside the old town of Narni, the equestrian event is placed in the Campo de li Giochi.
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