SUMMER FIESTAS IN UMBRIA - THE TOWNS OF SPELLO & BEVAGNA

It's mid June here in Umbria and the weather is sunny and bright every day, but its also hot and very dry as well. Whoever invented the siesta had the right idea. Get up early in the morning, do your jobs, have a nice lunch and then have a well earned rest during the heat of the early afternoon. By 4 o'clock its started to cool down again and feeling refreshed, you rise and get ready to enjoy the rest of the day. Perfect. This was the lusciously lazy pattern of our days in Umbria in recent weeks - how ever would we readjust when we returned to the UK?

June is also the time of year when, in this part of Italy, the annual Umbrian and Tuscan festivals get underway and for a period of about eight weeks most towns and villages have some sort of event which not only brings the community together, but also provides entertainment and spectacle for visitors too.  I'm always amazed at the huge quantities of energy and creativity that's poured in to these festivals by the locals - but civic pride, something we seem to have lost in the UK, plays an important part. Many of the festivals celebrate cultural traditions that go back centuries. Sometimes they have roots in a religious festival such as a Saint day for example, but on other occasions they are more associated with centuries old confraternities and brotherhoods connected to particular districts in a town. These festivals provided the perfect outlet for long established group rivalries but always evolved so they were conducted in a spirit of friendly competition. This reasoning is probably why they evolved in this way in the first place - they prevented a township's men from knocking the hell out of each other, but allowed for one group to be prominent, if only for 12 months. The following year it would and still does happen all over again.

This June we decided to visit two contrasting Umbrian festivals on the same Sunday - one at Spello and the other at Bevangna - two ancient towns not far apart and only 50 kilometers from our place near Lake Trasimeno.

The little Umbrian town of Spello (who could not be drawn to a town called Spello?) was our first stop and every year it holds a special annual festival combined with the Corpus Domini feast. This is an event which celebrates "the most holy body and blood of christ" - in other words a thanksgiving for Christ's teaching in relation to the ritual of holy communion.

THE HILLSIDE TOWN OF SPELLO - UMBRIA

ONE OF SEVERAL ENTRANCE GATES IN TO THE LITTLE TOWN OF SPELLO

The stone built town is a pretty and ancient walled place, beautifully conserved and with a population of only about 8000. It's sited 15 miles east of Perugia not far from Assisi and sits on a steep hillside below Mount Subasio. It's myriad of stone buildings seem to literally spill down the hillside. The roots of Spello can be traced back to the pre-Roman period, but it was the latter who developed its importance by making it a Roman colony. It was then known as Flavia Constans under the reign of Constantine the Great. Today the "centro historico" within the old medieval walls built on Roman foundations has an atmosphere steeped in history and we were looking forward to exploring its historic buildings, nooks and crannies - all situated on or near the steeply inclined main street, the Via Consolare, which rises from the ancient gateway at the foot of the hill. The town has a reputation for its narrow buttressed alley ways leading off the high street which have changed little since Roman times and at this time of year they are bedecked with terra cotta pots of red and white geraniums and containers of other colourful and sweet smelling plants.

ONE OF THE MANY FLOWER BEDECKED SIDE STREETS IN SPELLO

The annual festival is called the INFIORATE and though its not unique in terms of what takes place - it has the reputation for being one of the best of its type. During the several weeks before the festival members of different groups taking part in the event collect the coloured petals of locally grown flowers and dry them. A design or cartoon for a flower carpet is then constructed and during the night before the festival the different groups construct their floral design on one of the town's sloping streets - carefully arranging the dried coloured petals within the chalk inscribed lines of the design. In a way I suppose its a bit like "painting by numbers" but the results are much more than that and can be truly stunning. Sometimes groups encase their efforts in a marquee like structure fearful the wind will destroy their meticulous work. On the festival morning the weary and tired workers reveal their efforts for judging and blessing and winners are eventually declared to applause from the crowds.

DRIED FLOWER PETALS AND OTHER TOOLS & MATERIALS
NEEDED TO MAKE A FLOWER CARPET

We must have seen ten or so of the many entries in detail and the photographs show some of the best we saw. We didn't however see them all, only managing to get to the main square before deciding to turn back. Though we had arrived before 9am, having got up early to make the journey there, the crowds were already thickening by the time we went through the bottom gate and at the time we turned round to go back down again it was so busy we often had to pause to let people pass and there wasn't a space to be had in the car parks outside the old walls. By the time we arrived where we'd left the car bus loads of visitors were turning up too. I can't imagine it would have been an enjoyable experience trying to view the flower carpets by late morning. As we got in the car I marvelled again at this colourful and vibrant ephemeral event - in another 12 hours all the flower carpets would have been swept away! I wonder who took the prize for the best entry this year? - I would have given it the beautiful figurative floral carpet shown in the photographs below.

A COMPLETED CARPET AWAITING JUDGING
AND TO BE REVEALED TO THE PUBLIC

THE AMAZING DETAIL OF COMPOSITION AND SHADING
ACHIEVED IN ONE OF THE SPELLO CARPETS

THE FLOWER CARPETS

FLOWER CARPET CARTOON 

DETAIL OF THE COMPLETED CARPET

Soon we were on the road again driving to out second town - Bevagna - this time a settlement down in the flat flood plain of the River Topino and only 9 miles south of Assisi. Again it has a history which can be traced back to the pre-Roman period but once again it was the Romans who assured its future when they made it a municipium in 90BC. Within the walls Roman features are evident in temple remains discovered at two different sites and there's also the vestige of a theatre in one of the streets. Today the town is virtually enclosed by stone walls dating from the medieval period and to get in to the "centro historico" one has to walk through one of four main gateways linked to the four districts that make up the town. In contrast to Spello all the streets are flat and we found it thrilling to traverse the narrow streets to the main square with its beautiful church and civic buildings. The town was badly affected by the 1997 earthquake which also struck the church of St Francis in Assisi, but thankfully all of the necessary restoration work has now been completed.

BEVANGA, UMBRIA

ENTRANCE GATE IN TO BEVANGA

ONE OF BEVANGA'S PRINCIPAL SQUARES

The town's June festival is called the MERCATO DELLE GAITE and it lasts for several days. With a medieval theme running throughout the event there are banquets, processions, concerts and challenges involving the four quarters mentioned above. Walking towards the square we were lucky to bump in to a large crowd watching some street theatre involving a trio of larger than life jugglers dressed in medieval jester outfits. They played to the crowd beautifully and soon everyone was roaring with approval when knives were thrown between two of them with a selected member of the public stood between them.

KNIFE THROWING JUGGLERS AT THE BEVAGNA FIESTA

Moving on we went to the old market hall in the square to see demonstrations of local crafts - the photograph shows the skilled and beautiful work of a musical instrument maker.

A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MAKER TALKS ABOUT HIS CRAFT
IN THE OLD MARKET HALL

The highlight though was  the mid day archery competitions involving groups drawn from the four quarters of the town. Italian men and women do love to dress up and here was the perfect opportunity - outfits ranging from a knight in chain mail to a tonsured friar - both complete with bows and quivers of arrows. We couldn't help giggling at the some of these quasi-medieval outfits and the phrase "men in tights" couldn't have been more apt for this colourful display. In the main square the group were engaged in firing arrows through a makeshift swinging pendulum structure at the target behind and they were very skilled. The crown roared with approval when the bullseye was hit.

A TEAM BOWMAN FIRES AT A MOVING TARGET IN THE MAIN SQUARE

THE TARGET IS STRUCK THROUGH THE SWINGING PENDULUMS

OTHER COMPETITORS AWAIT THEIR TURN

Visiting these two Umbrian fiestas was an uplifting experience - a feast for all our senses and a reminder of the importance of cultural ritual based on history and tradition in these little towns. Not only do they bring the community together, young and old alike, they cement the present with the past and provide continuity in a rapidly changing world. At a time when modern technology and social media seem to be the principal reason for existence in the minds of many young people today - there was something ever so refreshing, heart warming and spiritually uplifting in these local fiesta events - long may they continue. As we walked back to the car we reflected on our perfect morning out and drove home looking forward to our well earned Sunday siesta? I wondered what the evening would hold later on??

Watch out for another posting related to Spello coming soon - its about a wonderful fresco cycle to be found in one of its churches by the renowned artist Pintoricchio.

Ciao & KBO
Ian