The Giostra del Saracino is the main folkloristic event in the city of Arezzo and takes place in the oldest square in the city called Piazza Grande which becomes the setting for the challenge on the penultimate Saturday of June, at night, and on the first Sunday of September, during the day. The first is dedicated to San Donato, the patron saint of the city, and for this reason it is called Giostra di San Donato; the second, however, is also called Giostra della Madonna del Conforto, as it is dedicated to the protectress of Arezzo.
The Giostra del Saracino boasts very ancient origins: the first events were also organized in the Middle Ages, becoming a characteristic element of the Arezzo area. Dante Alighieri himself, in the XXII Canto of Inferno, describes the atmosphere thus: I saw runners through your land, o Aretini, and I saw horsemen go around, fight tournaments and jousts run.
Competing for the Golden Lance, the coveted trophy made of walnut, lime or maple wood, are the four neighborhoods into which the city is divided, namely the Porta Crucifera District, the Porta del Foro District, the Porta Sant’Andrea District and the Porta Santo Spirito District.
Each neighborhood has two jousters (or “knights”) and is entitled to two careers, which are run according to the order drawn the previous Sunday at the Palazzo Civico. In each career the jouster holds a wooden spear. At the signal given by the Master of the Field, the knight rides along the lizza (the strip of beaten earth that runs obliquely across Piazza Grande) and launches himself against the Buratto, a metal puppet, spring-loaded and equipped with a shield in the left hand and armed with a flail (the medieval instrument composed of a whip with three ropes, at the ends of which are weighted wooden and leather balls) in the right.
The competition is preceded by a historical procession, by the performance of the flag-wavers and accompanied by the sound of the clarions of the Giostra del Saracino Music Group.
