Arezzo's Giostra del Saracino has been running since at least 1535 and possibly since the 13th century. Knights from four historic quarters charge on horseback to hit a mechanical Saracen figure — the Buratto — with a lance. The Buratto swings a flail when hit; if the knight doesn't move fast enough, it hits the horse. This is one of Italy's most technically demanding jousting events and one of its most authentic. Here is everything you need to know.
Read the guide →The Giostra del Saracino (Tournament of the Saracen) is a twice-yearly jousting competition in Arezzo's medieval Piazza Grande — the most architecturally unified Renaissance piazza in Tuscany. The competition involves knights from Arezzo's four historic quarters (Porta Crucifera, Porta del Foro, Porta Sant'Andrea, Porta Santo Spirito) charging on horseback to strike a mechanical figure called the Buratto (a carved wooden Saracen figure mounted on a pivot) with a lance. The Buratto holds a shield in one hand and a flail (mazzafrusto) in the other; when the lance strikes the shield, the figure rotates and the flail swings. If the knight doesn't clear the flail in time, it strikes the rider or horse — a genuine penalty for insufficient speed or poor positioning.
The scoring: the target has concentric rings on the shield (like an archery target). The innermost ring scores 5 points; outer rings score 3, 2, and 1. Each knight makes two runs. The quarter with the highest combined score after all runs wins the Golden Lance (Lancia d'Oro). The competition has been running in its current form since 1931 (when Arezzo revived the medieval tradition) with documentation of earlier versions going back to 1535 and possible origins in the 13th century.
Arezzo's four historic quarters (rioni) have been competing against each other in various events since the medieval period. Their historic associations: Porta Crucifera (north-east, the wealthiest medieval quarter — associated with merchants and the wool trade) wears white and green. Porta del Foro (south-east, the quarter of the civic forum — associated with civic governance) wears yellow and crimson. Porta Sant'Andrea (north-west, the artisans' quarter) wears white and green with a different device. Porta Santo Spirito (south-west, the religious quarter) wears yellow and blue.
The quarter rivalry is genuine and year-round — Aretinos identify with their quarter from birth. The Giostra is the moment when this identity becomes visible competitive spectacle. The stands in Piazza Grande for the tournament are filled with spectators in quarter colours; the noise when a high-scoring hit is made or missed reveals immediately who is sitting where.
Dates: The Giostra runs twice yearly — the first edition on the third Saturday of June (Giostra di Giugno), the second on the first Sunday of September (Giostra di Settembre). The June edition is considered the more important of the two; the September edition has become increasingly popular as a late-summer event. Both take place in Piazza Grande from approximately 9pm.
Tickets: Grandstand seats in Piazza Grande: €20–40 depending on sector and distance from the course. Available via giostrainfo.it and at the Arezzo tourist office. Book 2–3 weeks ahead for June (fills faster) and 1–2 weeks for September. The Saturday afternoon historical procession through Arezzo's streets (approximately 4pm, before the evening tournament) is free to watch — 600+ costumed participants from all four quarters.
Getting to Arezzo: Arezzo station is on the Florence–Rome main line — 45 minutes from Florence by regional train (€5–12), 2.5 hours from Rome. Giostra nights see packed trains returning to Florence post-event (check the last train time before you go). Accommodation in Arezzo fills for the Giostra weekends — book Cortona (30km), Castiglion Fiorentino (20km), or Florence as alternative bases.
Morning: Visit the Basilica di San Francesco (Piazza San Francesco) for Piero della Francesca's Legend of the True Cross fresco cycle (1452–1466) — one of the greatest painting cycles in Italian art. Book in advance (ufficiocortefrancesco.it, €12, groups maximum 25, 30-minute timed slots). The combination of the Piero frescoes with the Giostra is the definitive Arezzo day.
Afternoon: The historical procession (corteo storico) through Arezzo from approximately 4pm. Free to watch from the streets. The procession includes all four quarters in costume, with flag-throwers (sbandieratori), musicians, and the tournament officials. Watch from the intersection of Via Cavour and Via Roma for a good midpoint view.
Evening: The Giostra itself in Piazza Grande, approximately 9pm. Duration: 2–2.5 hours. Bring something warm (summer evenings in Arezzo can be cool at altitude) and patience for the ceremony before the actual jousting begins.
The Giostra del Saracino runs twice yearly: the Giostra di Giugno (third Saturday of June, evening) and the Giostra di Settembre (first Sunday of September, evening). Both take place in Piazza Grande, Arezzo, starting approximately 9pm. The historical procession is in the afternoon of each event day, free to watch from the streets. Tickets for the grandstand (€20–40) are available via giostrainfo.it — book 2–3 weeks ahead for June, 1–2 weeks for September. Arezzo is 45 minutes from Florence by train (€5–12).
The Giostra del Saracino and the Palio di Siena are different event types — jousting vs horse racing — so comparison isn't fully meaningful, but some contrasts: The Palio is more famous internationally and consequently more crowded and more expensive. The Giostra is more technically interesting for understanding the actual combat tradition it derives from — the lance strike, the Buratto mechanism, and the flail penalty are specific medieval tournament mechanics. The Giostra involves more direct human-vs-mechanism interaction. The Palio involves more direct horse-racing tradition. Both are genuine community events with deep local identity. The Giostra del Saracino is significantly more accessible in terms of tickets and transport.
Arezzo's primary attraction beyond the Giostra: Piero della Francesca's Legend of the True Cross fresco cycle in the Basilica di San Francesco (1452–1466, book in advance via ufficiocortefrancesco.it, €12) — considered among the greatest paintings in Italian art and one of the definitive works of the early Renaissance. Also: the Piazza Grande itself (Giorgio Vasari's loggiato, the Romanesque Pieve di Santa Maria facade, the medieval tower houses), the Museo Diocesano d'Arte Sacra (Pimietti altarpiece), and the monthly antiques market (Fiera Antiquaria, first Sunday of the month — the largest antiques market in Italy). Arezzo is also the birthplace of Giorgio Vasari (architect and art historian, author of Le Vite) and the poet Petrarch.
Piazza Grande is Arezzo's main medieval piazza and the site of the Giostra del Saracino. It is considered the most architecturally unified Renaissance piazza in Tuscany — a sloping, irregular space enclosed by the Romanesque apse of the Pieve di Santa Maria (12th century), the Gothic Palazzo della Fraternita dei Laici (14th century, with a Renaissance loggia added in 1460), Giorgio Vasari's Logge (16th century, Vasari was Arezzo-born), and various medieval tower houses. The slope of the piazza (approximately 2 metres from north to south end) was created by the underlying medieval topography. It appears in Roberto Benigni's film La vita è bella (1997) as the setting for several scenes. The Giostra's jousting course runs along its central axis.
Arezzo is one of the most historically layered cities in Tuscany — Roman Arretium (famous for its red-gloss ceramic ware, Arretine ware, which was exported throughout the Roman Empire and found as far as India), medieval merchant city (the Banca dei Bardi, precursor to modern banking, operated from Arezzo), Renaissance art (Piero della Francesca, Vasari), and the Giostra tradition. The medieval tournament and the Piero frescoes are not separate things — they're both expressions of the same 15th-century Tuscan civic culture that took pride in military skill, religious tradition, and artistic patronage simultaneously. Related: Tuscany guide, Chianti wine tours.
Giostra tickets, Piero della Francesca booking, Arezzo antiques market, and Tuscan hill town day trips from Florence.
La Redazione di TourLeaderPro.comBeyond the famous Italian festivals (Venice Carnival, Palio di Siena, the Rome Jazz Festival) there is a parallel calendar of events that receive almost no international tourist coverage and are significantly more interesting for the specific Italian cultural authenticity they represent:
La Sfilata dei Ceri, Gubbio (May 15): Three enormous wooden candles (ceri — each weighing 400kg, carried by teams of men) race through the streets of Gubbio in a tradition that has run continuously since 1160 AD. The event is one of Italy's oldest continuously held folk events. The physical exertion is genuine — the runners carry 400kg at pace through medieval streets — and the civic identity of Gubbio is entirely organised around which cero (San Ubaldo, San Giorgio, or Sant'Antonio) finishes first. Gubbio is 40km from Perugia; May 15 is the feast of Sant'Ubaldo. Free to watch from the streets. This is the most physically intense Italian folk event.
Sagra del Tordo, Montalcino (October): The annual thrush festival in Montalcino (the Brunello di Montalcino wine town) — medieval archery competition between the town's four quarters, followed by a feast of thrush-based dishes that are impossible to find anywhere else in Italy at any other time of year. October, last weekend. The archery competition is genuinely skilled and competitive; the subsequent feast in the town's fortezza is one of the most localised food experiences in Tuscany.
Palio dei Normanni, Piazza Armerina (August 12–14): Medieval jousting and historical pageant in the city of the Villa Romana del Casale mosaics (Piazza Armerina, Sicily — the 4th-century Roman villa with the most extensive floor mosaic programme in the world). The event recreates the Norman conquest of Sicily (11th century) with 600+ costumed participants. One of the most historically layered events in Italy: 21st-century Sicilians in 11th-century Norman costumes in a city built over a 4th-century Roman villa. The temporal stacking is specifically Italian.
Befana (January 6): The feast of the Epiphany is marked in Italy by the figure of Befana — a witch on a broomstick who brings gifts (or coal for naughty children) on the night of January 5–6. The tradition is older than Christmas gift-giving in Italian culture. Major Befana events: Piazza Navona in Rome (a traditional Befana fair runs from Christmas to January 6 with market stalls, candy coal, and a giant Befana puppet); Venice (Befana regattas on the Grand Canal). The most specifically Italian winter event, completely unknown to most non-Italian visitors.
Italy's most unusual traditional events that most international visitors don't know about: La Sfilata dei Ceri in Gubbio (May 15 — 400kg wooden candles carried at a run through medieval streets, 860-year-old tradition), the Sagra del Tordo in Montalcino (October — archery competition and thrush feast in a Brunello wine town), the Palio dei Normanni in Piazza Armerina (August — Norman conquest reenactment in a Sicilian mosaic city), and the Befana tradition (January 6 — the witch who brings Epiphany gifts, marked by fairs and regattas across Italy). All are free or low-cost and represent Italian folk culture at its most specific and least touristically mediated.
Beyond basic tourist phrases, these Italian expressions signal that you're engaging with the country rather than passing through it — and Italian people respond accordingly:
"Com'è fatto?" / "Come si fa?" (How is it made? / How do you make it?) — asked of a market vendor, a cheese seller, a pasta maker, or a restaurant owner. The Italian answer to this question is invariably detailed, enthusiastic, and reveals information about the product or dish that no guidebook contains. A trippaiolo in Florence asked "come si fa il lampredotto?" will spend 10 minutes explaining the specific cuts, the cooking time, the broth ingredients, and why nobody else does it correctly. This is genuinely more useful than any description of the dish you could read.
"Cosa consiglia lei?" / "Cosa mi dà oggi?" (What do you recommend? / What do you give me today?) — the second phrase is more informal and implies trust in the decision. At a fish counter, asking the fishmonger "cosa mi dà oggi?" grants them complete discretion to give you what's freshest. The same question at a small trattoria — "cosa mi dà oggi?" rather than asking to see the menu — signals that you're a serious eater who trusts the kitchen. The response is almost always the best thing available that day.
"Questo lo fate voi?" / "È artigianale?" (Do you make this yourself? / Is it artisanal/handmade?) — distinguishes between what's produced in-house and what's purchased. A bakery that makes its own bread, a salumeria that produces its own prosciutto, a wine bar that makes its own wine — the artisanal distinction matters and Italians make it constantly. Asking signals you care about the distinction.
"Quando è di stagione?" (When is it in season?) — asked of a restaurant or a market vendor about a specific ingredient. The answer tells you whether you're visiting at the right time for that product and demonstrates to the vendor that you understand the seasonal logic of Italian food. It's also simply useful information that changes what you order.
"È possibile assaggiare?" (Is it possible to taste?) — at a cheese shop, a salumeria, a wine shop, or an olive oil producer. In Italy, offering to taste before purchasing is standard commercial practice — the vendor expects it and a refusal to allow tasting is a sign that the product can't withstand scrutiny. Always ask.
The most useful Italian beyond tourist basics: "cosa consiglia?" (what do you recommend — at any restaurant, market, or shop), "com'è fatto?" (how is it made — unlocks detailed explanations from producers and vendors), "è di stagione?" (is it in season — shows you understand Italian food logic), "è possibile assaggiare?" (can I taste — standard practice at food shops), "cosa mi dà oggi?" (what do you give me today — grants the vendor discretion to offer the best available). These phrases signal genuine engagement rather than transaction-processing. Italians respond to genuine curiosity about their food and culture with a generosity that transforms the quality of any visit.