Sunday morning we took off to Volterra to once again travel back in time to the Middle Ages. Volterra is the perfect setting with its medieval architecture and since the whole city is involved in one way or another, the festival has been a favorite of ours since we discovered it.
Continue reading about our day at the Volterra medieval festival »
Last Saturday we went back to Roccatederighi to attend the “Festa del Borgo”, the medieval fair held every year in this nice village in the Tuscan Maremma. We were positively impressed: we write about it in more detail on our brand new blog Medieval Festivals.
Since we wanted to take our time in seeing the many attractions of the Medieval Fair and visit the nearby Castle of Sassoforte, we decided to sleep in the area for one night. We slept at a nice bed and breakfast near Sassofortino called Podere Usignolo. The owners, Martin and Barbara, are really nice and have created a beautiful place from which one can enjoy the hills of Maremma! We definitely recommend it even for a long, relaxing stay in the Tuscan countryside.
Read more about the Roccatederighi Medieval Fair ยป
Joust Tournament
We spent this last weekend around Monteriggioni since its medieval fair has become one of our favorite summer events. We took advantage to visit the area as well, visiting Colle Val d’Elsa and we’ll soon post about what we saw there.
“Monteriggioni di Torri si Corona” or “Monteriggioni Crowned by Towers” (the phrase comes from Dante Alighieri) is a medieval fair that takes place over two long weekends every July in this beautiful castle near Siena. The castle, very well conserved, is a pleasure to visit and ideal setting for recreating past eras.
It is easy to go back to the Middle Ages when surrounded by the large defensive walls and giant towers, walking amidst knights in armor, minstrels, musicians and tables set up to illustrate medieval crafts. A step back to medieval times is always fascinating, not least because it offers the possibility of being centuries away from our responsibilities of daily life especially once we turn off our cell phones 
.
Read more about Monteriggioni Medieval Fair
It’s time for one of our favourite events in Tuscany: the medieval festival of Monteriggioni. Monteriggioni is a beautiful medieval castle with giant towers near Siena. It has been the setting of several medieval battles between the armies of Florence and Siena, and it’s the perfect location to recreate medieval times.
The festival started last weekend on the 3d of july, we will be going this friday (10th) and saturday, maybe on sunday too for the last day. Learn more about the festival on the official site of “Monteriggioni di Torri si Corona” .
This video, from last year’s edition, shows a reenactement of the medieval battle during the siege of the castle by the Florentines, in 1526. Unfortunately the audio of the first part is only in Italian!
The tiny village of Serravalle Pistoiese, just 10 kilometres from Pistoia, is preparing to dive into the past with the Medieval Fair organized at the Rocca di Castruccio from May 22 to 24.
Serravalle was the most important castle for the Ghibelline city of Pistoia, both reaching the peak of their splendor and importance at the end of the second century. The Medieval Fair celebrates the ancient glory of Serravalle at the beginning of the 300s, bringing back to life the old fortress with its garrisons, artisans, merchants and all the places and personages which animated the castle at that time.
The Fair will start on May 22 with a medieval dinner and continues over the following two days with many events and exhibitions that take us back to that era.
On Saturday 23 at 10 p.m. we highly recommend attending the show by the medieval-inspired musicians of the Compagnia la Giostra. We have seen this high energy group perform in other important medieval fairs around Tuscany (such as the Monteriggioni fair in July) and we have been big fans since the very first time we heard them! We’re planning to attend the fair this week in Serravalle to not miss the show of our favorite medieval group and the rest of the fair.
Has someone else attended in the past or is thinking of joing us? Let us know what you think!
This past weekend we tried something different from the medieval festivals we’ve come to love and went to Scarperia to step back into time, but not so far back: only about five centuries back into the Renaissance. The festival took place on September 6 and 7 as part of the festivities that precede the Palio del Diotto that takes place on September 8 of every year in Scarperia.
Continue reading about Scarperia in the Renaissance...
Here is a little video I made during a show by the flag throwers of Massa Marittima in Volterra, during the Medieval Festival!
For anyone now in Tuscany interested in living for a day back in the Middle Ages, the small mountain village of Cutigliano in the province of Pistoia will be staging a Medieval festival this weekend, July 19 and 20. The festival will offer daily scenes of Medieval life in the small narrow streets with shops set up showcasing ancient trades and taverns, a historical march in costume, minstrels and jugglers, soldiers and flag bearers.
The day starts off at 10 a.m. on both days and continues until well past 10 p.m.
Cutigliano sits above Pistoia at over 700 meters above sea level, on the skirts of the Apennines and is about an hour and a half drive from Florence.
If you want to know more about Cutigliano, the tourism board for the village has a small site with information but it is only in Italian. This other page has a longer list of events happening throughout the year in Cutigliano, in Italian as well.
We just got back from the Medieval Festival in Monteriggioni!
It was once again fun and interesting to step back in time into the Middle Ages, dance to the tunes of the minstrels and drink a fine cup of wine
With a spectacular setting such as Monteriggioni is it easy to fall back into a Medieval atmosphere. The many characters in costume do the rest: from the “nobility” dressed in elaborate, rich costumes to the soldiers and knights challenging each other to duels in the streets to the stalls selling traditional crafts and showcasing old trades. Again this year one could find traditional local products on sale, from cheeses, candies and wines to valuable artisan products including knives, leather items and hand-crafted books. Everything can be purchased in “grossi“, the coin that was in use at that time in the castle of Monteriggioni (of course all also accept euros 
).
Read more on the Monteriggioni medieval festival »
English 
Italiano 
Subscribe to our RSS feed