Palio del Fiasco in Piegaro

I love a festa; costumes, drum bands, flags, the whole spectacular parade! Many of the towns and villages in Italy have a Palio which is basically a challenge (with all the fanfare previously mentioned)  between sections of that town or village. The Palio in Siena is probably the most famous. The Palio is actually the flag or banner that is the prize.

Today we went to Piegaro, a small village only ten kilometres from Panicale. Piegaro has been a thriving glass blowing centre for 750 years when some glass artisans arrived from Venice and found ideal conditions in Piegaro.

We arrived early enough to see the glass blowing demonstrations at the Museum of Glass (Museo di Vetro) where one glass demonstrator was making vases and glasses and the other was making beads for jewellery. There were demonstrations of other old crafts and items for sale.

The village was looking patriotic with their flags and banners draped from windows and balconies and across the streets.

Today's  festa was called the Palio of the Fiasco, the fiasco being the glass bottle with the raffia cover that was the first introduction to Italian wine for people of my vintage.

The first part of the challenge involved four ladies each covering a glass bottle with a reed-type plant to create the look we know. It took about an hour for the job to be done and only three finished their bottles.

The finished fiasci - notice the different styles.

A drum band, two banner bearers representing the two rione, (or parts of the village) and four people in medieval costumes formed a parade through the narrow streets. The drummers entertained whilst the ladies continued their skilled work.

For the second part of the challenge, the Palio del Vetrai,  the two flag bearer boys had to run through the village carrying a full fiasco. They genuinely did clock the same time today!

 Another juxtaposition - I love the Medieval costumes with the 21st century haircuts.

The winners with the palio.

The village was finishing off the day's entertainment with a meal in the piazza. Being two of only a handful of tourists present we came back for a meal at Bar del Gallo and as we walked home this pretty sunset was blushing the sky.