The night in Faenza is black. A big party at Porta Ravegnana: the “Botte” goes to Black Ward, which the Combined also takes home in an evening worth remembering. Sunday evening Francesco Santandrea and Enrico Emiliani in Piazza del Popolo in Faenza they win the prestigious couples competition with a great performance judged as the best by the FISB judges. At the Porta Ravegnana headquarters, with the cry of “we are the champions of Faenza”, it goes the barrel with the 50 liters of Albana wine, prize for the winners of the Pairs Competition, the most prestigious and historic of Tournament of Flag Bearers and Musicians of Faenza. Second place for the flag-wavers of Rione Rosso, then the ranking sees Rione Verde in third place, followed by Giallo and Borgo Durbecco. The Black, thanks to the good performances of the day before, also conquers the Combined ranking (13.60 points), leaving behind the Borgo (16.20), then the Rione Verde (20.40) and finally the Yellow and Red.
Best drummer is once again Luca Linguerri of the Red District.
The oath of the 5 knights who will compete at the Niballo joust
As per tradition, the competition opened with the oath of the five knights who will compete next Sunday in the Palio del Niballo joust. These are the same five as last edition: the reigning champion Marco Diafaldi (Rione Verde) which has already won 3 Palios of Niballo, the foreigner Luca Innocenzi (Borgo Durbecco) indicated by many as the best knight in Italy, Matteo Tabanelli (Black district), Matteo Rivola (Red district) e Gertan Cela (Yellow district). Each of them has already won at least one tournament between Bigorda and Niballo, so it promises to be a spectacular race. But now it’s time for flags.
The barrel race
Fate decreed that the flag-wavers of Borgo Durbecco would open the dancing for the pairs competition, Marco Tarroni and Marco Pasi, protagonists of some “spreads” (flags fallen to the ground). Next is the turn of the Green district with Filippo and Massimiliano Rossi, already winners in this competition in 2019. A ‘stretch’ for them too, but the performance overall is good. The third to enter the square are the flag-wavers of Red: the fresh winner of the Single Raffaele Rampino jr and Francesco Palomba. They too are unable to avoid a “stretch” but a good performance comes out of it. It’s then the turn of Francesco Santandrea and Enrico Emiliani of the Black district, who manage to bring home the performance without ‘hanging out’, accompanied by the final roar of their fans. Closing out is the reigning champion district, the Yellow district. Here the couple changes compared to previous years: they are the ones performing Kevin Liverani and Federico Locatelli.
