The Giostra del Saracino — Arezzo's joust, run twice a year.

Arezzo is divided into four quarters — Porta Crucifera, Porta del Foro, Porta Sant'Andrea and Porta Santo Spirito — each with its own colours, its own saints and its own long memory. Twice a year, two knights per quarter ride for honour in Piazza Grande, the city's sloping, shell-shaped square.

On race day the four quarters process across the square in period dress — banners, drummers, each quarter's colours — before the track is laid and the heats run one after the other. It is the city itself that stages it: every quarter, every neighbourhood, on its feet from the first parade to the final heat.

The target is the Buratto: a wooden effigy of a Saracen king, armour-plated, holding a scored shield in one hand — and in the other the mazzafrusto, a flail of leather and wood that snaps back at any knight who lands a hit. Strike cleanly and your quarter scores. Hesitate, and the Saracen strikes you.

The joust runs twice: on the third Saturday of June, in the evening, and on the first Sunday of September, by day — the older edition, and the one Arezzo holds dearest. It has run, with few interruptions, since the Middle Ages. The crowd in the centre of the square stands for hours. From a reserved place above it, the same charge unfolds in front of you — with room to breathe.