Games of the Doors

The last weekend of September is held, between the four quarters of the city, the ancient Palio di San Michele The l Arcangelo. This is divided into three races: running with the cart, shooting with the bow and with the slingshot and running on the donkeys. It refers to the ancient equestrian jousting that characterized the patronical recurrences, which the city celebrated on May 8th and September 29th. In the three days preceding the dispute of the palio, the city plunges into a typically medieval atmosphere, with streets and squares that are tinged with the colors of the San Benedetto, San Donato, San Facondino and San Martino gates. Spectacular is the historical parade with almost a thousand figures in fifteenth-century costume, which polarizes the attention and interest of the public like, especially those where the donkey, first engaged in towing a cart and then mounted, rises to become the protagonist. A real party that reserves a crescendo of emotions until the last game and ends in the general triumph around the bonfire of a giant puppet depicting the Bastola, the character to which the legend assigns the role of irreducible enemy of Gualdo. In the days before the contest of the Palio it is possible to taste gastronomic specialties in the characteristic medieval taverns of the historical center.

The last weekend of September.