Festival of Barbarossa

History, tradition, emotions, spectacle, reenactment, identity and adrenaline: the Barbarossa Festival of San Quirico d'Orcia returns from Wednesday, June 11 to Sunday, June 15, with its 63rd edition.

Sounds, colors, flavors and emotions, for a real return to the Middle Ages, with one of the most evocative and ancient historical reenactments.

It is 1155 when Frederick of Hohenstaufen, known as Barbarossa, meets the envoys of Pope Adrian IV at San Quirico. The most powerful man of the time wants a pass from Rome for his coronation as ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. To obtain it, Barbarossa delivers the heretic Arnaldo da Brescia into the hands of the Cardinals.

To commemorate the historic meeting, since 1962 San Quirico d'Orcia has celebrated the Festival of Barbarossa, born from the intuition of Professor Orfeo Sorbellini. A recurrence that in half a century has involved generations of men and women who, every third Sunday in June, compete in bows and flags contests, divided into the four districts: Borgo ( black-white), Canneti (white-blue), Castello (white-red) and Prato (white-green).