GIOSTRA DELLA QUINTANA A FOLIGNO

JUNE & SEPTEMBER

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Every September the joust of the Quintana of Foligno offers a show not to be missed. The manifestation is more than five hundred years old and was brought back to life in 1946. Documents date it back to the first half of the 1400’s when horsemen challenged each other to the same test of skill that their heirs take part in today. The horsemen, armed with a long wooden lance approximately three metres long, must attempt to put it through a ring hung from the arm of a wooden statue at a full gallop, until they capture the last ring merely five centimetres in diameter. The race, a captivating competition of speed and skill, is held in two rounds, the first held in June at night, and the so-called “re-match” that takes place on a Sunday afternoon in September. 

The name Quintana derives from the word “quinta”, the road of the Roman castrum used for training the legionnaires. Today, the ten districts that the city of Foligno is divided into take part in the event: Ammanniti, Badia, Cassero, Contrastanga, Croce bianca, Giotti, La Mora, Morlupo, Pugilli and Spada. The horsemen joust in the so-called “campo de li giochi”, a track in the shape of a figure 8, with a statue of the god Mars, which has become the symbol of the city and is placed at the centre of the two diagonals. 

There are two must-see events that open and close the Quintana: the “Cena Grande” a suggestive banquet held outdoors in the streets of the city, and the lavish historic procession that takes place before the challenge in the jousting field, a parade with more than six hundred participants wearing clothing from the sixteenth century. For the entire duration of the event it is possible to eat in the taverns of the various districts.

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More info: www.quintana.it