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You are in -> Home page -> Traditions and civic events of Tuscia Viterbese

THE MEDIEVAL PAGEANT AND THE CASTLE Palio

LATERA

(6th – 8th August)

Pro Loco: Via Piave, 5 – Latera (VT);Telefono:0761459041

Cultural Association “Card. Girolamo Farnese”: Via L.Cadorna, 11 – Latera (VT);

Tel 0761.459223http//: www.associazione-latera-cultura.it

This annual Festival takes place within the walls of the town and around the Farnese Castle at Latera. It was the year 1408, when Pope Gregory XII entrusted Latera Castle to Ranuccio Farnese. The investiture took place in Latera in the presence of the papal legate, Cardinal Baldassarre Cossa Diacono.

The whole village joins in the historic pageant commemorating the event and its medieval streets are metamorphised back into their original guise, a time warp which takes us straight back to 1400.

The piazzas and steep, narrow streets are lined with stalls where merchants sell material, meat, fruit and so forth, enlivened by strolling players and jugglers.

The ancient cellars are redolent with the scents of times gone by, while the castle hall becomes the magical backdrop for two splendid evenings: “Medieval Dinners at Court” with exotic dishes served, as they once were to the nobles of the time, by miads in costume. Musicians and dancers, jugglers and acrobats, knights and ladies, master craftsmen, standard bearers, all miraculously transported down the centuries, entertain the guests between courses. The dinners are presided over by a high table of nobles dressed in historical costume and guests are invited to wear historical costumes themselves, otherwise evening dress is obligatory.

Outside the castle the ducal family is protected by a camp of soldiers whose business it is to ensure their safety.

For those who do not attend the Court Dinners typical medieval and local dishes are served by the stalls and booths dotted around the town, run by local associations.

Another feature of the event is the pageant of ten villages who were part of the Dukedom of Castro; they parade through the town to the castle in their historical costumes accompanied by drummers and standard bearers, on their way to pay homage to the new Duke who has just received the title of Governor and Vicar of Latera.

Two events crown the whole festival: Latera’s historical cortege with over eighty people dressed in medieval costume and the Medieval Quintain, where horsemen from all the towns and villages of the former duchy vie with each other to win the prize.