Quintanone

This guy gets around. We originally met “Quintanone’ in the Palazzo Trinci (museum), but now he is hanging out at the Teatro Piermarini, the place to get tickets for Foligno’s “Giostra della Quintana”. Quintanone’s doppelganger will be at the center (literally) of the jousting tournament this Saturday night. Considered the “Olympics” of ancient regime games, the Quintana Jousting Tournament (Giostra della Quintana) is a re-enactment of a 17th century equestrian competition. The 10 districts of the city of Foligno will compete for the prize. The horse and rider navigate a challenging 8-shaped course at high speeds, aiming to “joust” rings of decreasing diameter, which are held in the extended hand of Quintanone who is standing at the center junction of the figure 8. Kind of like, ‘catching the ring at the carousel’ meets the Palio high spee horse race. Unfortunately, we will not be going to the jousting competition. It starts at 9:45 pm and the last train back to Spello is less than an hour later. It’s too late to bike and too far to walk. We decided it wasn’t worth buying ticket, as we would have to leave the competition early, and considering that most things start late in Italy, who knows how much we’d actually get to see. The Blip is the original late 16th-early 17th century wooden statue depicting the God Mars, but called the Quintanone.