An event full of Traditional Italian games
Sarnano event 29 & 30 August 2015 celebrating childhood
This weekend is one for the children in the beautiful village of Sarnano. The cobbled streets will be filled with the sounds of children enthralled by a range of historic games, musical accompaniment and people enjoying delicious food and wine.
A festival of family fun & games for the kids
The ancient Le Marche Piazzas and Vicolos will be full of whoops of joy and laughter. The old loggia will host a museum of traditional toys and games. Wander through the Centro Storico to find card games, a Burrattinaio, or puppet show, sack races, a Go kart piste, wheel of fortune, hopscotch, catapulting (away from glass without cement mixers), archery and stilt walking.
There will also be “Angry Pots” where blindfolded children are given a long stick and required to break a number of dangling clay pots. They are given instructions on where to whack the stick and will hopefully succeed in showering themselves in broken crockery.
Get yourself down to Sarnano for a fun filled weekend, try some of the local hostelries, have a glass of wine at Memphis Bell or Decantautore both bars have great music (decantautore has a live acoustic band on Friday 28th Aug, has about 10 draft wines, artisan beers and a dart board). Take a walk in the local hills
The Italian game of Lippa
Lippa is a traditional game played with two sticks: a large one, which is used to hit a smaller one, that resembles a peg or table skittle. The idea is to tap the small stick and when its airborne to volley it as far as possible In Europe, the game was only played in Italy, strangely though, it is also played in the rural areas and small towns all over India and Pakistan as well as Cambodia where it is called Gilli-Danda .
Ruzzola
Ruzzola is a traditional game usually played during Lent using a 11cm diameter hard wooden disc, 1.2cm thick. The game is played by teams along white roads in rural Italy took place . The types of throw depended on the terrain and route and involved shows of strength along straight pistes, but also included technical ability such as curving the disc to the right or the left, hills, up and down hills. Each team takes turns to throw the ruzzola a far as they can along a prescribed course, with the winner being the one that passes the “salmo” (finishing line) first.
Albero della Cuccagna
The game Albero della Cucagna involves a pole (often greasy); which is erected for climbers to show their agility and speed in climbing and hopefully rescuing the treats that are hung at the top (In Sarnano’s case these were locally made salamis).
Click this link for more photos and an Marche newpaper report on this event
