Overview
Calendimaggio is a seasonal festival celebrating the arrival of spring. A hymn to love and rediscovered joie de vivre will be repeated in Assisi from 3 to 6 May. Certainly established within the ancient Umbrian people to celebrate the return of the spring and the renewal of the cycle of life following the cold, harsh days of winter, in the Middle Ages and also thanks to Provençal influence, the 'May songs' had a great development: in fact, even St Francis loved to compose poems and songs in his youth. At the very beginning of this month, brigades of young people went around the various districts singing and dancing.
And in the very first days of May, Assisi once again takes on a medieval guise: the two 'sides' of the city compete for victory in this tournament, all about beauty and poetry.
The Blessing of the Banners, the only religious moment of an absolutely secular festival, kicks off the event.
The mayor of the city, with the symbolic handing over the keys, offers the Maestro de Campo judicial power for the event’s duration.
For four intense days, the Umbrian town will live immersed in the Middle Ages: the reading of the 'notices of challenge' full of irony and sarcasm, the election of Madonna Primavera, the re-enactment of medieval life, a veritable leap into the past involving some areas of the town, and then parades and the singing challenge that, in a packed square but in sacred silence, leads to the final Verdict.
The verdict of the jurors, gathered in the municipal offices in the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo, is declaimed by the Maestro di Campo.
For access and ticket prices of the event check: Calendimaggio di Assisi
For access and ticket prices of the event check: Calendimaggio di Assisi
