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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!

Here is a little video I made during a show by the flag throwers of Massa Marittima in Volterra, during the Medieval Festival!

We just got back from the year AD 1398 as did the hundreds of people that attended the medieval festival in Volterra this past weekend, the city’s largest annual event. We also got back to work after our short holiday, and that made it especially hard to return to modern times!

On Sunday August 24th for an entire day for a small fee of 9 euros we entered medieval Volterra and we were able once again to imagine how it was to live in that age.

Read more about our day in medieval Volterra »

This Sunday August 17 and next Sunday August 24 in Volterra enjoy a recreation of a medieval town with craftsmen, musicians, jugglers, and people dressed in period clothing as either common people or noblemen. This year the festival takes place inside the city walls in the park by the fort that affords more space than the past editions held in just the central streets around Piazza dei Priori.

Read more on Volterra AD 1398, a day in the Middle Ages

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 »