La Giostra del Saracino (The Joust of the Saracen)

We arrived in Tuscany just in time to witness the 108th Joust of the Saracen, a famous local jousting competition played in the city of Arezzo, which is the nearest “big town” to us. The joust is something of a reenactment of the battles of the Tuscan people against the Saracen invaders in the 14th century. These people take their jousting seriously! If I’d ever been to a Super Bowl game, I think it would be like that. OK, many fewer people, but I think they made up for it in vigor and excitement.

For weeks before the event the town is bustling in preparation for the big day. There are all-night parties, parades and decorations. This image shows some of the buildings decorated with colorful coats of arms for the joust.


The city is divided into four quarters named Porta Crucifera, Porta San Andrea, Porta San Spirito and Porta del Foro. Their names represent the city gate at the corner of town that they live in. Many medieval Italian cities are divided in quarters or districts like these, and the residents are extremely proud of the district they represent. It’s a very strong feature of their local culture. The way the tournament works is each quarter has two jousters on horses and they compete until a winning quarter is selected.

On the morning of the competition there is a big parade of hundreds of people in medieval period costumes, drummers, flags, and horses. Each quarter parades into the center of town from their gate through the city to the Piazza Grande, where the joust takes place. The streets were packed with people coming to see the parade!


The booming percussion of the drummers as they marched along the stone streets really got my heart beating. You could feel the beat of the drums as they passed!


The streets were lined with people in all kinds of wonderful costumes.


Each quarter has its own colors and flags, and the participants and observers are decked out in these colors as you can see in the crossbow-carrying paraders marching here.


And of course the jousters on their horses also parade through town.


At one point in the parade, in the middle of town, a town crier of sorts climbs above the crowd, decked out in costume, and calls out the challenge of the tournament to the four quarters.


In the competition the jousters will charge at a wooden statue figure called the “Saracen” (representing the ancient invaders) and will aim his joust at a target held in the statue’s left hand. There are elaborate rules for scoring, but basically it’s similar to darts in that you get a higher score for hitting the center and so on. But there’s a trick! Once the joust hits the target, the wooden Saracen spins around wielding 3 stone balls on ropes called “mazzafrusto” in its right hand, whipping toward the jouster. The jouster has to hit the target and get out of the way of the Saracen before it hits him in the back with the stone balls. It’s a vicious game! They even get extra points for breaking the target and win the joust outright if they break the Saracen statue.

This is the wooden Saracen statue. You can see the target in his left hand and, and if you look closely, the balls on ropes in his right.


Once the crowd was in place the festivities began with flag throwers and processions through the jousting field. Jenny, I thought of you when I saw the flag team! They were really amazing to watch!


Finally, before the jousting began, the horses marched in procession through the field, all dressed up in banners, flags and the colors of their quarters.


As the competition proceeded the observers from the four quarters in the crowd would jeer at and taunt each other with songs and chants. Each quarter had their own area around the field. Everyone was wearing their colors and flags for their quarters. As they would chant and sing they would raise their hands toward the quarter they were challenging.


And as you can see here the chanting and cheering wasn’t always friendly! In fact, they got down right nasty yelling chants at the other quarters saying something about the other quarters’ mothers. There are two quarters in particular who are at severe odds, and the other two quarters are pretty mellow. The rowdiest of the wild quarters is Porta Crucifera, who are just crazy. And yes, that’s the crowd I got to stand in. YIKES! They were wild and crazy!


I was so far back in the crowd that I couldn’t see much of the jousting, but I was able to raise my camera above my head and luckily snapped this picture of one of the jousters making an excellent strike on the target.


As it turned out, the quarter of Porta San Andrea were the winners, and also the arch nemesis of the wild quarter I was standing among. There were a lot of angry people in the crowd around me and one fight broke out but it was quickly stopped. I was actually delighted that Porta San Andrea won against the group I was standing in because I thought the group I was in was particularly nasty and poor sportsmen. Anywho, when the winner was announced the crowd went WILD and rushed into the center of the field to congratulate their jousters!


In summary, it was a great cultural experience and I’m glad I did it but I’d never do it again! Too wild and crowded for me! (My God, I’m getting old!) So, for those of you trying to think of Christmas gifts for me, you can probably scratch Super Bowl tickets off of your lists.