Gallery10 August 2018

Finalborgo: Historical re-enactment, journey in the Middle Ages back to 1400 [Video & photo gallery]

Every year at the end of August in Finalborgo there is a famous historical re-enactment called “Viaggio nel Medioevo” ("Journey into the Middle Ages”): it is a very special event in which the village goes back to its past with ancient crafts, medieval games, old recipes.

Credit Facebook site

Credit Facebook site

Street artists, actors, fire-eaters, jugglers, musicians, dancers, flag-wavers, birds of prey, knights, archers, swordsmen, innkeepers and hosts. Professionals in the sector from different locations in Europe meet in the ancient village to contend squares and streets. Every corner of the village is animated and colored by flags, festoons and medieval signs. Fights between impetuous mercenaries or courtly duels of the knights of fortune. Unexpected events enliven the Borgo in every alley.

Virtual tour

Crossing the gates of Finalborgo you have the feeling of crossing the gates of time and being immersed in a medieval dream. Throughout the country flourish ancient shops where traders and artisans of the village seizing the spirit of the medieval festival accept the Finarino, the currency of the Marquisate of Finale. Hundreds of characters take turns in the streets of Finalborgo populated by costumed customers, with streets and squares animated by ladies, knights and commoners, dancers kidnapped overseas, concerts of Celtic-medieval music, horseback tournaments, torture and live history in order to reproduce the XV century, the period in which Finale's marquisate, governed by the Del Carretto, experienced its period of greatest splendor.

Spices and perfumes from afar, traders and artisans of the village have grasped the spirit of the medieval festival and so in the four days old shops have flourished: in the "Via del Mercato" the local flavors mingled with the products arrived from Spain, Portugal, France; in the "Via delle Taverne" renowned restaurateurs play the role of ancient hosts to refresh the travelers; in the Court Square, renamed the "Portuguese Square" for the occasion, the fire burns continuously and every curious tourist can have dinner at the side of the Galician captain of Ventura, or the uncouth mercenary from the north, or be immortalized with the hawks. The desert tent from Algeria doesn't lack, where the steaming mint tea is accompanied by the sensual Odalische vaultings.

Finally the "Locanda dei Cavalieri" in the splendid setting of the Cloisters of Santa Caterina, where the inevitable and impeccable medieval dinner, treated in every detail, is served by the Marchese's pageboys. Noble recipes, popular dishes, dates of the desert and white anchovy pancakes: every type of palate can find satisfaction. Knights, begings, jesters, musicians, archers and Giovanni Del Carretto with its sumptuous court and the company of fortune that followed him in a thousand undertakings. The brave armies of the "Lion Company", who love to entertain and impress the guests by showing their value with Sword Cruises and breathtaking tournaments - truly breathtaking - to compete for a lady's pledge or simply to be praised by the Marquis himself ... with a short but solemn nod of agreement with the head.

In the square of Santa Caterina, set up with stands, uninterrupted juggling shows: acrobats from Greece and jesters from Tuscany and Umbria. And more than a thousand characters and a hundred pièces: witches, lepers, beggars, demoniacs and prelates ... the dumb actors of the Theatrical Laboratory section of the Historic Center of Finale, interacting with artists from various regions of Europe, breaking down every language barrier. A sort of new and modern "language of Oc" comes to life spontaneously: Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, French, Italian, Finalese; at the end of the four days, becomes normal and familiar an unwritten language, that really speaks of the Region Europe and its history. Really a dream four days long.

 

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Judit Neuberger

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