Italy's Unusual May Festivals

May is  the best time to visit central Italy especially if you are an anthropologist. Here there are many unusual festivals  that include the marriage of two trees,  a race  honoring a horse man and   a procession of snake charmers. 

foreign visitors  at  the Wedding of the Trees 

The  period between Easter  and the month of May  abounds with festivals having  a fertility  significance such as  the Wedding of the Trees  held in Vetralla  and  the Barabbata  in Marta.

Sposalizio dell'Albero, May 8th in Vetralla 

Serpari festival, Cocullo, Abruzzo  (Pro loco Cocullo)

May 8^th is also the festival dedicated to  St. Domenico Abbot in the Abruzzi town of Cocullo. Here the serpari or snake charmers parade through the streets  handling  snakes just  awakened from their winter hibernation.

at the finish line 

Another unusual festival happened this morning here in Vetralla:    the 16^th edition of the  Uomo Cavallo  race  with 180  men and women contestants from all parts of central Italy . 

watching the racers arrive 

finish line  in Piazza della Rocca 

The  10 kms. itinerary is a figure 8  snaking through the town  center and includes  many murderous  hills .   

runners from southern Italy 

refreshments at the end of the 10 km. race 

Domenico Baghini known as Uomo Cavallo 

The race is named for  Domenico Baghini of  Vetralla  (1867-1943) who as a youngster learned to run as he rounded up the cows on the family farm. When the first train came to town he competed against it and won. With his incredible physical stamina, he continued his winning streak competing  against horses in  20 km runs.   

nutella, crostate and water   at the finish line 

He ran many races all over Italy, Europe and even in Tunis in the years 1900-1910. When a national sports newspaper  paid his way to Paris  to participate in a marathon, Baghini  pocketed the money and traveled to  Paris on foot  doing 80-100 kms a day. Needless to say, he won the race, with 10 minutes advantage over the second place. 

(foto-Proloco Acquapendente )

 The Pugnaloni festival  of Acquapendente, on the Lazio-Tuscany border, has been  held annually for over  800 years. It sees groups from different parts of town competing to  create  huge   mosaics  made from leaves and flower petals which are  displayed throughout the year . This year it will be held on Sunday  19^th May. For more on I Pugnaloni check the pro loco website.

(foto-proloco Acquapendente)

What is your favorite, unusual Italian festival? 

Indepth  information on local life, traditions and celebrations in Northern Lazio can be found in my publications .
Order a signed copy for yourself or for a friend  planning a trip here. 

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Festivals of Fertility : Wedding of the Trees and La Barabbata

In May each year the towns of Northern Lazio  celebrate  the fertile season  with a series of ancient festivals. One is the Wedding of the Trees  celebrated on May 8 in Vetralla which dates back centuries and is probably the first and most genuine ecological   or "green" festival.

                                                                                

Costumed dancers follow the music of the town band, flag throwers perform and horsemen (and women) bearing bouquets of yellow broom gallop around the  clearing in the forest atop Monte Fogliano.
 The symbolic "wedding"  between two giant oaks decorated with veils and garlands is performed and a notary's document is read and signed.

veils and garlands of yellow broom decorate the  wedding of the trees

Viva  la Madonna!!

On May 14th the  village of Marta  on Lake Bolsena  hosts the Barabbata festival, prototype of all May fairs. Here the goddess Maia
 (the month of May, mother Nature) is honored  by the exclusively male participants.

The origins of the ritual, officially dedicated to the Madonna del Monte, are lost in time but athropologists  explain that this magic-popular-pagan feast is an earthy celebration of fertility rites dating to pre-Etruscan times.


 Led by horsemen, the slow  procession of fishermen and farmers carrying  the tools of their trades ( nets, guns and farmer's rakes) winds  through town and   up to the hillside sanctuary-Madonna del Monte-  which is decorated  for the occasion with garlands of fruits and flowers straight out of a Renaissance painting.

home made floats  carry fruits of the land and lake

 White buffalo help pull the homemade floats known as fontane that are piled high with  artistically arranged cheeses, flowers, fruit  and lake fish.

a team of oxen  pull  a float  

At intervals the participants roar out songs and cheers to the Madonna while the  girls and women oberseve from the balconies and throw down flower petals  on the handsomest members of the groups.

Learn more about the area's  festivals  in  "Etruria: travel, history and itineraries  in Central Italy"  which can be ordered  directly from my website .  

Thanks to John Ferro Sims of London and Rob Mari of California  for  the photos.