CHIEUTI – After the 2017 edition, «La Cittadella» returns to be the first to cross the finish line of the traditional Chieuti chariot race, which takes place on the occasion of the feast of San Giorgio. What seemed like a clear and deserved victory for La Cittadella, however, turned into a sort of “mystery” with a “controversial” ending, to say the least.
After the draw in the morning had established the order of deployment of the floats on the starting line (with the participating districts of Collefinocchio Vaccareccia, Collefinocchio San Vito, La Cittadella, I Giovanissimi), at the end of the race, which took place in maximum safety with imposing protection measures along the entire route, which saw the La Cittadella float at the finish line first, followed in order by I Giovanissimi, Collefinocchio San Vito and Collefinocchio Vaccareccia, a dispute arose over the moment of the start of the carrese.
On the bench of the “accused” are Collefinocchio Vaccareccia, Collefinocchio San Vito and La Cittadella, guilty of having left before the mayor pronounced the starting formula. With the crowd waiting for a response in front of the Town Hall, after a discussion that lasted hours, with the viewing of videos of the race, the disqualification of the “incriminated” floats and the consequent victory of I Giovanissimi were discussed. Shortly afterwards, however, this ruling was overturned with the confirmation of the order of arrival at the finish line and the announcement of the delivery of the Palio di San Giorgio to the managers of La Cittadella. When everything now seemed to be clear, a decree from the Mayor of Chieuti, Diego Iacono, arrived to reshuffle the cards.
«The writer – says the Mayor Diego Iacono – during the departure operations, was unable to pronounce the starting formula, as the first three wagons left anticipating the mayor’s order, the only wagon remained stopped waiting for the the mayor’s order, it was the Giovanissimi float. Therefore, in light of what has been described, given the municipal regulations, by right the winning wagon would be that of the Giovanissimi. Given what happened under the premises of the Municipal headquarters, in order to avoid public order disorders, which would also have jeopardized the continuation of the patronal festival in honor of the Patron Saint San Giorgio Martire, in addition to the fact of nullifying all the work carried out in recent years for the Carrese of Chieuti, the undersigned had to concede the victory to the La Cittadella float, without merit, as despite arriving first at the finish line it was among the floats to be disqualified. I decree, against my will, against my principles and only for the protection of public order the proclamation of the winning chariot La Cittadella and I authorize the president to take the prize to the church”.
Obviously, the discussion, in the country and on social media, is by no means over and further developments are expected.
Tags: Chieuti cheating wagon wins
