A spectacular, infinite Barbarossa, who rewarded the Prato in the Bishops’ competition, and the Castle in that of the Archers. This is the outcome of the 62nd edition of the Barbarossa Festival which was held yesterday in San Quirico, on the day of Saints Quirico and Giulitta.
Captain Giacomo Pistoi’s green and white district triumphed in the flag competition, winning four preferences from the jurors, against two from Canneti and Castello and one from Borgo. Prato was not influenced by the flag-waving first position and offered a show made of throws and technique, bringing the Brocca dell’Imperatore degli Alfieri back to via Matteotti after two years, the fifth in the last seven editions, for what it is a true domain.
The victorious standard bearers are Francesco Generali (five victories in total), Alessandro Melani (five), Valerio Mario (four) and Federico Fabbro (three), with the drummer Ivan Zali, also with five victories. With this success the green and whites go first alone in the roll of honor of flags at twenty-one.
The Archers’ competition was exciting and forbidden to the faint of heart where, after an infinite series of play-offs – never seen in 62 years of history – the Castle prevailed, regaining the solitary summit of the Festival’s roll of honour. The hero of Porta Cappuccini is Amedeo Giraldi, a newcomer with nerves of steel and cold blood. In the first round he beat Maryus Cretu from Canneti 22 to 18. In the semi-final he beat Flavio Di Cristina 25 to 22, going to the final.
In the second round Constantin Dragusanu eliminated Niccolò Costantino del Prato 23 to 21; and in the semi-final he won with the castellan Matteo Bartoli 25 to 23. And here is the final. After five arrows it’s tied: 24 to 24. Play-off with three arrows: 14 all. And we move forward with 1 arrow each, whoever makes a mistake is out.
In the fifth one-arrow play-off (the sixth in total) Giraldi scores 5 again and the Cane-born Dragusanu takes 4. It is the explosion of joy of the red and white people – of Captain Federico Maramai – who with this victory reaches 33 Pitchers in total ( 18 Bows and 15 Flags), breaking away from the Canneti stopped at 32 (20 Flags and 12 Bows); Prato reaches 30 Pitchers (21 Bishops and 9 Archers); and the Borgo at 27 (23 Archers and 4 Standard Bearers).
Until late at night, the green-white and red-white flags invaded the historic center of San Quirico, with the Brocche created by Marcello and Andrea Mannuzza, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the first flag competition.
