Festa Di Barbarossa

Today we had a wander in San Quirico in the morning, read our books in the beautiful garden of the hotel in the afternoon, then we watched the junior part of the festival. We followed the procession through the old town to the gardens where we sat in tiered seating to watch the flag waving competition. The competitors, after a fanfare of trumpets and a roll of drums, filed in to much applause from their supporters. The four quarters of the town were represented by young children dressed in the colours of their area - green, blue, red or black. The green and blue teams performed then the red team, comprising of some very young boys, took their places. It started well but a mis-thrown flag sent the tiniest boy scurrying back to catch it, which he managed, but the flag caused a cheek injury. As the blood poured, and the medico was called for, his mother fainted. By the time the chaos had subsided, and the poor black team had its turn, the heart had gone out of the event. We retired to eat a tasty dinner.