Yesterday, I had a very long (but fun) day. It started a bit
before six when I got up to eat breakfast and get dressed in costume. Having
done that, I walked down to the Lucaronis' house and tried to help them get
ready so that we could leave by 6:45. Turns out the only thing I could help
with was putting Alessio's hair into a ponytail (his dad was trying to use a
ponytail holder that was the wrong length, but I happened to have a spare on
hand). Eventually, everything was ready, and we headed off to Ponte Rio to pick
up Giuliana and get a coffee.
We headed off on the drive to Spoleto and I dozed through most of
it. When we got to Spoleto, we were lucky enough to nab a parking spot in the
park where we were shooting. We got out all of our arrows and bags and snacks
and so on, and got ready in the most lackadaisical manner, greeting all of the
archers we knew as they came. Having done that, Matteo strung the bows (after I
showed the Lucaronis the most magnificent bruise that I had gotten from bending
the bow back around my knee, they insisted that Matteo do it). Giuliana helped
me put some tape around my right hand ring finger, which had blistered on
Friday due to using Matteo's bow which is a bit stronger than mine (I left my
bow up in Aberdeen. The bow he let me borrow has a 40-pound pull instead of a
35-pound pull).
After getting ready, we went and got another coffee, and Matteo
and Mr. Lucaroni got called for a meeting for the "capopiazzole"
(they are the ones in charge of enforcing the rules of the competition and
making sure that the targets conform to the standards).
And we were off! Matteo was my capopiazzola and everyone in the group
was there to have fun and not worry too much about how many points they got. In
other words, a GREAT group to be in. Everyone there was friends with everyone else and they just got along so well. They had all sorts of jokes and traditions, but not in an exclusive way. They were happy to have me along (Matteo was laughing about how polite I was- because I had asked him "would you kindly stop irritating me?" when he poked me with and arrow for the twentieth time during practice). Riccardo (Matteo's uncle) was in the group and he brought along his horn. Thus, it was decided that whoever got three bullseyes would have to try to blow the horn. Riccardo is the only one who can get it to sound properly and the only one who could come close to him was Matteo, but it was quite amusing to watch people struggle to blow the horn (I even had to try it myself, but only once).
The targets weren't anything to write home about. The distances were quite short, which made things hard in its own way. Generally speaking, the targets were a bit hard to understand and there were more "special" targets than I would have liked (special targets are ones where you get 15 points if you hit them with your first arrow, 10 for your second and 5 for your third. I don't like them because I generally miss them altogether).
After traipsing about shooting at targets and cracking jokes (some more publishable than others) for a couple of hours, we had gone though all twenty targets and it was time for lunch. We had decided to take a picnic lunch instead of going and having the restaurant lunch, which was fine with me because it was much quieter and I knew the people there. We had a cold pasta salad, bread, dried sausages, salami, mortadella, pizza, and brownies (I brought the brownies). Mr. Lucaroni went home with somebody else before lunch, so after lunch we collected his prize (prize-giving started just after lunch, at about 5). After we did that, we went and got a gelato from the bar across the street.
Once we had had our gelato, we talked for a bit longer and then headed home. By the time we got home it was seven. I went to have about an hour of quiet time before dinner, but it seems not to have worked out quite as planned as I woke up this morning, slightly confused as to what day it was.
I'll publish photos as soon as I can lift them off facebook (one of the guys in my piazzola was taking tons of photos so I think that some of them will make their way onto facebook- if they don't I'll ask him for them directly).
Ciao,
Florence
On the way up, though, our train had an hour's layover in Bologna. Having never been in the city itself despite having driven around it multiple times and gone through it via train on various trips, we thought it a good idea to see something other than a bunch of platforms.
Sure enough! After a while of driving, we headed up the hill and ended in Bettona. Completely surrounded by a wall, this small town has a sum total of two restaurants (one of which was closed), three bars (one of which was closed), and many beautiful buildings. Plus a view that most would envy: one side, gorgeous views of rolling hills and lovely countryside; to the other side, Assisi and Spello plus Perugia. Just stunning. The town itself has a number of earlyish churches (13th century) and a 13th-century City Hall, as well as various other early Medieval structures. It's chock full of intriguing views, alleys, arches, and general interest, but also boasts a beautiful park with an overlook and a lovely piazza.
