On Sunday 17 th June the annual Palio Della Balestra was held in La Villa. The archery competition took place in the grounds of the beautiful Villa Ada, up the hill behind the village of La Villa.
It is a good excuse for people to dress up in gorgeous medieval costumes and shoot arrows at targets…..or just watch other people shoot arrows at targets. Lots of fun was had by all.
One of the handsome young knights had trouble doing his hair given that he was wearing rather large gloves. Fortunately one of his mates helped out.
That is much easier to fit under a helmet.
There were some serious archers.
Arrows were checked and removed from the targets.
Scores were discussed.
There were flowers to be presented to winners.
There was a display of medieval food preparation.
There were weapons to be discussed.
Meanwhile there was a little market in La Villa.
After the first round of the competition the participants were joined by drummers and other musicians for a parade into town.
The drummers were excellent.
Look at this gorgeous young drummer.
Actually they were all gorgeous.
There were also bagpipes.
Here is a last look at the handsome young knight.
Then it was time for lunch before the next round of competition……but by then it was hot and I went home.
When you visit and town or village make sure you check with the information centre to see what festivals are on….you wouldn’t want to miss one.
Thank you to Ilario (see comments below) for letting me know that Bagni di Lucca’s crossbow team is the champion team in Italy. I told you there were some serious archers there.
Click here to see the 2013 event.
Bella Bagni di Lucca 
WOW! This is great fun, I wished to be there and to hear their music and songs too… Thank you dear Debra, these are amazing photographs. Love, nia
It was a fun day. I would love to be here again next year.
beautiful job, Debra! as always….
Thank you!
It was really a fantastic day..thank you Debra
The crowd you had at the restaurant looked set for a feast.
Wow! Looks amazing. Is this the annual Mediaeval Festival held in the park in Bagni di Lucca? I didn’t know about the archery competition.
Oh! I so want to be there. We arrive on 31st July this year instead of the usual mid May. We’ll miss out on lots of things but I guess we’ll catch a whole lot of extras by staying until the end of October.
Thanks for the lovely photos Debbra.
All the best,
Cheryl
Go to the information centre each week to see what is on…..these things are not well publicized….Italy does not seem to understand promotion.
Debra – assume you mean the tourist information centre at BdL – we’re visiting from the 30th June but only for a week (then heading north) and so feel I need to get to the right place straight away. Have been following the blog so feel like I’ve got lots of good pointers.
Thanks
Anna
The information centre is in La Villa, but heading for the information centre in any town helps you to find local events.
Beautiful post Debra. The setting and the costumes and the faces. You captured the lot!!! I can imagine it wasn’t an easy day either in all this heat!
The actual competition bit was in the shade of the lovely trees at Villa Ada, but the procession into town must have been very hot for the participants.
Superb photos. I particularly enjoyed the handsome knight! I feel very guilty now for sloping off to the beach yesterday instead!
You missed a treat!
What fun! Reminds me of some Renaissance fairs we have around here. You’re SO lucky. *sighs wistfully*
It was a fun day.
about archery crosbow….Bagni di Lucca’s team is Italian champion……just as an information
Bagni di Lucca’s team is Italian champion in cross bow shooting
Thank you for that Ilario.
I love Tuscany! I’m planning our trip to Italy – what to leave out is killing me!
Let me know if I can help with some suggestions.
I have attended this event a couple of times in the past and it is great to see that the number of people in costumes keeps on increasing. It is great for the town not to loose these traditions. Also the quality of the costumes gets better and better. Great photos!
The costumes were great.I wonder if they could be used for other events.
Fantastic photos…I so enjoy that you share all the wonderful festivals with us. I love that Italy carries on so many traditions especially with all the clothing that keeps history alive.
It certainly makes history more interesting.
Great color and smiles!
Lots of lovely smiles.
Oh, my wife would just love all that. She was a big SCA enthusiast when we first met… nothing like that where we live now unfortunately 😦
The small village festival are a lot of fun, I was lucky to have been here for this one.
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Happy New Year!
There’s a blogging award called the “Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award” and I’ve nominated you for it!
And if you would like to nominate other blogs, here’s a link to the post.
https://wordpress.com/post/48620893/7532/
Thank you for the nomination, but I don’t take part in blog awards.
The event this year was a pale shadow of what it was here
That is a real pity, it could be a real asset for Bagni di Lucca.