Medieval History
It is time for the butcher to polish up his battle-axe and the schoolmistress to stitch fresh silks on her noblewoman's gown as the hired horseman hones his lance and primes his mount for combat.
Jousting season in Sulmona, and the people of this ancient town, nestled in Italy's central mountains, are making fevered preparations for the biggest festival of their year, when Renaissance pageantry and feasting set the tone for local rivalries fought out in knightly contests on the main square.
The piazza, a natural hippodrome of tall, stone buildings with the high peaks of the Abruzzi soaring up behind, has been laid with hundreds of tonnes of sand and planted with greenery to mark out a track round which 'cavaliere' -- the knights -- will race with lances raised at breakneck speeds.
Click here to read this article from Reuters
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Medieval History
Lances raised, Italian town prepares to joust
It is time for the butcher to polish up his battle-axe and the schoolmistress to stitch fresh silks on her noblewoman's gown as the hired horseman hones his lance and primes his mount for combat.
Jousting season in Sulmona, and the people of this ancient town, nestled in Italy's central mountains, are making fevered preparations for the biggest festival of their year, when Renaissance pageantry and feasting set the tone for local rivalries fought out in knightly contests on the main square.
The piazza, a natural hippodrome of tall, stone buildings with the high peaks of the Abruzzi soaring up behind, has been laid with hundreds of tonnes of sand and planted with greenery to mark out a track round which 'cavaliere' -- the knights -- will race with lances raised at breakneck speeds.
Click here to read this article from Reuters
- Crunch Time: Making Money From A Medieval Extreme Sport
Bathurst-based entrepreneur Rod Walker promotes what the History Channel calls ?the most dangerous collision sport in history?: jousting. The former coal miner keen on horses graduated to jousting by way of foot combat. His jousting business, Full Tilt,...
- Objects Of Devotion: The Material Culture Of Italian Renaissance Piety, 1400?1600
An earthquake ravages a small town in central Italy. Catastrophic fissures rip through the buildings; desperate cries can be heard from those whose houses are collapsing; others try to attract attention by standing on rooftops and waving their hands but...
- Poland's Medieval Love Affair For Knights
There is something about summer that makes some Poles clamour to slip into chain mail or flowing dresses and pretend to be medieval knights and damsels. During the holiday season there is a knights' tournament or battle re-enactment every weekend....
- Chivalry Isn't Dead At World Joust Event
Ever since Lance Armstrong watched a dodgeball tournament on ESPN the Ocho, niche sports enthusiasts claim everything this side of cup stacking deserves a programming slot. And we've seen all kinds of variants invited onto the stage including roque,...
- Solving The 800-year Mystery Of Pisa's Leaning Tower
All six donkeys were impeccably behaved. They?d been ridden into Pisa?s main square, the Piazza dei Miracoli, last November by vexed vets from Pisa University and ceremoniously set down beneath its Leaning Tower. In protest at government cuts across Italian...