This weekend has been the may competition for archery. There is a reason it's reputed to be one of the best competitions to attend. There is so much more than "just" archery, and the targets are so creative! This year, they held a market- with basket makers, jewelers, weaponry, toys, candy, soaps, notebooks, meats, cheeses, honey, plants and so much more. That started Saturday morning and was continued on Sunday.
Saturday afternoon, they held the first group of competitors, since there were too many archers for just one day. This year, there were a lot of uphill and downhill targets, as well as a fair number of moving targets.
You'll have to thank Mummy for the photos.
In the evening, they had the "siege of the castle". It has so many moving parts. First thing you do is shoot through the right hand window of the castle. If you get through it, it triggers soldiers behind the crenulations to move from one side to the other and back again. You have to knock one over. IF you do that, the sword in the left hand side starts to swing, letting you try to get through THAT window. If you get through that window, the drawbridge lowers, revealing a moving plate that you have to break. Four steps, in five arrows. It is no mean feat to get to the end.
While that was going on, in the Piazza, they had drummers, then pyro-people, and then dancers. I was hoping that the pyro folk were going to do some fire breathing, but no luck. It was still pretty cool. The dancers were even better than they had been in years past. I inevitably want to pick up new hobbies whenever the competitions come to town.
Sunday morning, the competition started bright and early. Okay, fine it started at 9, but after Saturday's excitement, that sure FELT early. I spent the day walking around with Matteo Lucaroni's piazzola, and having a great time. I mostly served as an extra hand and security. Worth a mention that it is absolutely terrifying to be standing just around the corner at the same level as the target when people are shooting. You can certainly understand why archers were so effective at destroying soldier's morale. When it got to lunch time, and the competition was over, with a quick stop at the licorice vendor, I headed home. I discovered that Mummy and Daddy had done their best to clean out the market of their foodstuffs and we had a lovely lunch.
After lunch, (and a small nap) I went into the piazza for prize giving. Turns out, they had started early and by the time I got out, prizes had already been given. This was fine by me, as I was actually mostly there for the flag waving and dancing. After a little bit of a wait, we got to see both the flag wavers and their drummers perform. They did an amazing job despite the wind.
All in all, a great way to spend the weekend.
Ciao,
Florence-Edward
