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Every summer the main piazza of Sulmona, in Italy, transforms into the Medieval-style arena. Galloping horses enter the decorated piazza, and noble knights representing different neighbourhoods and cities challenge each other in a series of jousts. The old tradition of Sulmona was revived in the mid-1990s. It has become an annual festival drawing thousands of tourists during the last weekend of July.
Giostra Cavalleresca di Sulmona, or Knightly Joust of Sulmona, features a few tournaments over two weekends in late July and early August. The first-weekend joust—Giostra Cavalleresca di Sulmona— involves seven different neighborhoods of Sulmona. It is followed by a one-day ‘Borghi Più Belli d’Italia’ tournament where the most beautiful villages in Italy send their riders. The finals are the European Championship (Giostra Cavalleresca d’Europa) where each foreign delegation of riders is hosted by one of the local neighborhoods. The shows take place on Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi, also known as Piazza Maggiore, in the afternoons. This year Zakynthos was represented in the jousting match by the beautiful village of Anversa Degli Abruzzi.
Teruel (Spain) and Bugnara are the winners, respectively, of the XXI Giostra d’Europa for peace and the XV Giostradei Borghi più belli d’Italia, in which Zakynthos took part. A celebration of colours, music and different costumes that met midsummer during the weekend of the 5th and 6th August, 2023 in the city of Ovid and Celestine V.
Seven foreign delegations, Burghausen (Germany), Zakynthos and Corfu (Greece), Colchester (England), Cesky Krumlov (Czech Republic), Teruel (Spain) and San Marino, were invited to the event which takes place yearly, including towns in the Peligno district, Italy. The Giostra d’Europa has in fact combined, for the last fifteen years, with countries across Europe and clubs belonging to the most beautiful villages in Italy.
The competing groups were combined as follows: Borgo Pacentrano- Cesky-Pettorano; Borgo San Panfilo-Burghausen-Pacentro; Borgo della Tomba-Teruel-Bugnara; Porta Manaresca-San Marino-Villalago; Porta Filiamabili-Corfù-Introdacqua; Porta Bonomini-Colchester-Scanno; Porta Japasseri-Zante-Anversa.. The Medieval Marsica association and the Palio delle Torri of Mosciano Sant’Angelo will also participate.
This year’s message across Europe was peace as explained by organisers. “From this year the Giostra of Europe becomes the European Giostra for Peace – explained Luisa Taglieri, event manager – Last year we launched the message of unity among people in the name of Celestine V. The European Parliament took the importance of the event, sponsoring it and highlighting its value linked to peace, as underlined by the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola in the motivation accompanying the sponsorship”.
It was once again a great opportunity for the Zakynthian team Giostra di Zante to represent Greece along with fellow club members from Corfu, thus making the Seven Islands being represented not only in a European event but also in helping spread the message of peace, where nations can come together, united in their cultural differences but focus on a common interest to create, friendships and support for a cause that can only benefit those who participate.
Zakynthos Informer would like to congratulate our team on their success and wish them well in the near future.
