Summer in Italy is pleasantly warm and suitable for festivity. So this is the season for many colorful festivals in Italy. Italians turn out in large numbers to enjoy the warm weather and enjoy yearly events. The Palio del Niballo is a very colorful event that transports one back to the fabulously colorful medieval era. This is the reiteration of an ancient event that marked a war-like age and sport-enthusiastic community. Everything that characterized the medieval period will be replicated in this festival. The whole tournament area will be resplendent with knights, drummers and trumpeters dressed in medieval costumes and a cheering crowd with their respective ward’s flags.

 The Palio del Niballo is a competition between five wards of the ancient districts of Faenza. These five districts are represented by five colors – white, yellow, red, green and black. A jousting tournament is conducted among these five districts every year on the fourth Sunday of June, in the Stadium "Bruno Blacks".

 The historical origin of this tournament dates back to 15^th century. These days were the days of heroism, rivalry and war. The intermittent time between the wars is a restless period for the energetic and war-like population. So these intervals were dotted with various competitions and tournaments and jousts. The Palio del Niballo started as one of those competitions.

 The competition, as said before, is among the five districts of Faenza – Borgo Durbecco, Gate Bridge, Gate of Ravenna,

Porta Imola and Porta Montanara. When the signal is given by the judge of the tournament, the warriors dressed in medieval costumes ride in two different semicircles to reach a parallel track to reach the revolving dummy of a Saracen warrior. It is called Niballo. The competition is to strike at the target that is held at the end of the two outstretched arms of the dummy, before it revolves out of the way.

The target is 8 centimeter in diameter and the warriors gallop in full speed to strike at it with a 2.73 meter long spear. The warrior who strikes the target first will deprive the other of reaching the target by tilting the arm out of the way and he will win the point. He will win a shield with the losing district’s color. After 20 rounds, the district which wins the most number of times will be declared winner. The award ceremony of the Palio del Niballo is conducted at the steps of the cathedral in the presence of the bishop, the mayor and the public.

The Palio del Niballo competition is conducted in pairs. The tournament is witnessed enthusiastically. Once upon a time, this tournament served to keep the medieval warriors constantly in training and competitive spirit. But the modern Italy repeats this medieval contest as an entertainment and this is a great tourist attraction during the summer. To make the event more colorful, there will be processions of over 400 participants representing all the five contestant districts and the municipal group. The parade will be accompanied by drummers and trumpeters. The contestants and the people of the districts will be dressed in their respective colors, which make the whole event spectacularly colorful. This recap of the medieval event is a fabulous event that attracts a large crowd from far and wide. If you plan to visit Italy during this season, The Palio del Noballo is an event worth seeing.

 by Marina Chernyak