One of the Ferrara events we had been looking forward to the most since we got here last July was the Palio--Ferrara's horse race at the end of May each year. What we didn't realize until May rolled around was that there were parades and events the entire month leading up to the actual race, which actually fell on June 1 this year. The city of Ferrara is divided into eight neighborhood sections called contradas. Each contrada has their own colors, mascots, musicians, flag throwers, and people who dress up in 14th century costumes for all the events. We live in the boundaries of the San Giorgio contrada. Our colors are red and yellow and the mascot is a dragon.
One of the first "shows" was a parade and reenactment of presenting the contradas to the Duke. Robbie went to this one alone because it was too late in the evening for Michael and I to be out. It took place in the cathedral, which we had never seen all lit up (on the inside) at night before. Robbie said you could hear the drums beating long before he saw any of the paraders. They marched down the old streets of Ferrara and into the cathedral.
There was a fake pope who went around and blessed each of the contradas and the Corte Ducale (the Duke's court, who this was all in place to entertain).
The next weekend were flag throwing competitions. There were two weeks of these, one was the youth competition and the next weekend was for adults. Each contrada had their own flag throwers, in costume, as well as musicians who played the music to accompany them.
At some point during the beginning of the month, one of our Italian friends, Anisa, asked if I would be interested in marching in the parade. We had this whole conversation about "wait, anyone can walk in the parade?" "Yes, as long as the contrada has a dress for you to wear." "Even though I'm American and don't speak Italian and we don't all live in the same contrada?" "Yes, want me to call around and see if anyone has room for us?" So we agreed that we'd do it, even though it was pretty late.
A few days later she let me know that all of the contradas were full and didn't have any room available for us, but she called the Corte Ducale and they said they could work us into their parade as long as the dresses they had available fit us. So Anisa, one of Robbie's coworkers Dierdre, and I went down to try on dresses. We each found one that fit, went to a couple late-night rehearsals for the parade and little show that was happening about two weeks before the Palio, and we were set!
We got ready at Deirdre's house and took a few pictures before we lined up:
There were some really interesting costumes, and it was fun to see everyone all dressed up. We took a few pictures with some of our knight friends (we were noblewomen of the Duke's court, after all) and then it was time for the parade!
We walked from the wall that surrounds the city down the cobblestone streets to the castle. It was really fun to be a part of it.
As we were lining up to begin walking, Robbie ran into Anisa's friend who we had met before who happens to be in Carabinieri (the Italian military police). They hung out together for the night and he walked around with Robbie along the parade route as we walked and would talk to people and flash his badge and got him and Robbie into places they probably weren't supposed to be. Robbie loved it and got some neat pictures of us, like this one of the paraders walking up to the castle.
After we made it to the castle there was a performance to entertain the Duke in Piazza Castello. We didn't really do anything but stand there and bowed a little when one of the knights was introduced. Robbie's highlight of the night was when he was taking a few pictures of this with some other photographers from the newspaper and they were asked to leave but he got to stay because of our friend-connection.
Here is Anisa and I in front of the castle in our costumes after the whole thing was finished:
After that parade, the organizers of the Corte Ducale asked if we wanted to be in the parade on the day of the Palio, where we would walk from the castle down to Piazza Ariostea where the race is held. Robbie met up with our friend again who had managed to get him a press pass for the whole event, so he got to walk all around the parade route and actually be out on the field for the parade and all the races. He had a great time, and got some pictures like nobody else could.
The little kids dressed up in their tiny costumes were my favorite! They did such a good job walking in the parade and never even complained about walking so far in the heat.
One of the knights in front of the Palazzo Diamante.
The Corte Ducale was first, then all the contradas paraded in with drums and horns and their cool costumes.
Once the parade was over, the races started! There were two foot-races, one for boys and one for girls. The boys went first:
Then the girls. Our contrada was represented by the girl in all red.
And she won!
Next up were the donkey races. This race took forever because there were probably at least 15 false starts. The gun would go off, they decided someone went before they should have, and everyone had to line their sometimes uncooperative donkeys back up on the line and get ready to go again, then more false starts!
They finally got a good start, and Contrada San Benedetto won this race.
Then there was about a 1.5 hour break while between races while they got the track ready for the horses. the horses came out and took a few laps around the track for everyone to cheer for them and finally lined up and were ready to go.
Amazingly, there were no false starts for the horse race and they were off in one start! They ran around the track only 4 or 5 times and it was over so quickly.
In the end, Borgo San Giacomo won the race. I think San Girogio came in second, but it was hard to tell with all the yelling and chaos of the whole thing.
Our American/NATO group did a little tailgate type party for the race and a few of the guys went early to stake out a spot for everyone where we could all watch together. They grilled some hamburgers and hot dogs and we had a bunch of drinks and chips and stuff for everyone as we hung out all afternoon for the races. Here's our group:
Michael's friend Laiah came out to watch the race with us too.
And for being such a good boy all day (and because he kept watching other people get ice cream and didn't get any when we were at the race) we stopped for gelato on the way home, still wearing our contrada colors to represent Borgo San Girogio!
It was a really fun day for all of us--I got to walk in the parade again, Robbie got to run all over the place taking cool pictures and didn't get kicked out, and Michael got to play with his friend, see the horses, and eat lots of chips. We can't wait for next year!
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