Bejeweled Baroque in Foligno

“The applause and affection of my fellow Folignati made up for the fatigue of wearing this stupendous gown,” said Miss Italia, Francesca Testasecca after participating in the splendid Baroque evening pageantry of her city’s festival, la Quintana. Culminating moment of the festivities is the jousting match the day after, rooted in the Roman history of the town, once called Fulginium. The Quintana was the area of the Roman army camp, site of the arduous training of the soldiers. Soldiers armed with swords or lances launched themselves at a target in the form of a soldier holding a ring, trying to run the sword through the ring, thus honing their accuracy.

[lcaption]Baroque costume splendor[/lcaption]

Town documents date the first Quintana – then a jousting match for entertainment of the populace – to 1418, and in 1613, the Priors of Foligno issued a decree including the Quintana in Foligno’s pre-Lenten celebrations, Carnevale. Today, the ten competing knights – one for each district or rione of the city – gallop at breakneck speed on a challenging course, lance aimed at the Quintano statue holding three rings, progressively smaller (the smallest is just about 8 inches in diameter). Said to be the most difficult jousting match in Italy – and called “the Olympics of equestrian competitions” – the race of the Quintana draws thousands of enthusiastic spectators.

For me, the elegant pageantry of the night before is the highlight: over seven-hundred personages in bejeweled and intricately-embroidered Baroque costumes as well as over sixty horses – also lavishly decked out – parade through the flag-decked Foligno streets and piazzas, accompanied by the triumphal music of trumpets and drums.

[lcaption]Quintano on poster[/lcaption]

Before the corteo storico (“parade of history”), the Folignati gather in the medieval taverne of their rioni (districts) for a propitious dinner of local specialties. A friend and I joined the locals of the Giotti rione (“best people – and best food!”, a Foligno acquaintance had told me) for dinner in their stone-vaulted taverna. Blue and white (colors of the Giotti rione ) flags fluttered over the entrance and tense excitement reigned within: Giotti had won the Quintana last year and all hoped for the rivincita (“comeback”) the next day. Would their knight, Gubbini, once again bring home the glory to the Giotti?

Giotti personages in Baroque splendor were talking outside their taverna, awaiting the start of their grand entrance into the main square at 10 pm, as part of the corteo storico. Their tailor, Franco Parigi – in costume himself – now and then adjusted a delicate lace collar of a stately dama.

Between courses in the taverna, I headed out with my camera to photograph the wonders.
Signor Parigi proudly illustrated his costumes – in shades of soft blues and various shades of whites – for me: “this one is modeled on a painting of Velasquez… and this one was worn by a 17th-century Bourbon princess… and I designed this one from a gold-embroidered Baroque altar frontspiece.”

[lcaption]Tailor of the Giotti rione adjusts splendid lace collar[/lcaption]

The evening was warm. The costumes were breath-taking but obviously incredibly heavy and the starched lace collars allowed little head movement to the women. The discomfort would be born for hours. The Folignates’ undying passione for their seventeenth century history and traditions lives on.

See the corteo storico – and feel the emotion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNgQGGVzEfc