When is the next
Saracino?

The Giostra del Saracino is not a re-enactment. It is a joust that never quite stopped — a medieval tournament staged twice a year in the sloping Piazza Grande, contested by the four historical quarters of Arezzo. It is loud, exact, and, for a handful of hours, entirely serious.

The four quarters

Porta Crucifera, Porta del Foro, Porta Sant'Andrea, and Porta Santo Spirito. Each fields two knights on horseback, each carries centuries of rivalry, and each throws a dinner the night before that outsiders are rarely invited to. We are, occasionally, invited.

How the joust is run

A wooden effigy of a Saracen king — the Buratto — stands at the far end of the piazza, shield in one hand, three-tailed whip in the other. The knight charges at full gallop and strikes the shield with a lance. Points are marked on the shield; miss the aim and the whip comes around and strikes the knight from behind. The piazza, all of it, gasps at once.

How to see it well

The joust itself lasts roughly ninety minutes. The day around it — the blessing of the knights at the Duomo, the historical procession, the quarter dinners the night before, the celebration until dawn if your quarter wins — is what most travellers miss. A good seat in the wooden stands is the smallest part of the plan.

Hoiron · Journal