The festivities in Ascoli Piceno continued this past weekend for La Quintana with the Saluto Madonna della Pace on Friday and on Saturday night was the first of two La Giostra or joust. The Saluto was a procession of one thousand people in period costume representing each of the sestiere as well as the surrounding castles that were at one time subject to the control of Ascoli Piceno, most of these are now flourishing towns of their own.
La giostre is an oval course with a figure “8” in the middle. The cavalieri must ride around the oval once then into the figure “8” making three passes by the target, which is designed to look like a Moorish character. This is a timed competition and most completed the course in less than one minute. They are also judged on the accuracy of their target hit with their lance. There are three tries and the highest combined score wins.
The night had a bit of excitement and chaos as two of the horses and riders went down on the sharp curves while at full gallop but fortunately no riders or horses were injured. One cavaliero also lost his lance when he hit the target. All of these resulted in zero points for that cavaliero for that turn. One cavaliero also started his turn before given the clear signal from the officials and this resulted in chaos as he was first disqualified and then allowed to retry his turn.
That retry resulted in him having the highest
The pageantry of the processions and la giostre with the pounding drums, blaring trumpets, colorful costumes, banners and medieval costumes is something unmatched in anything I have ever seen in America. This is truly an event that you won’t believe until you see and experience it.
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