Calendimaggio

The Calendimaggio is an medieval rievocation that takes place in Assisi every thurstday, Friday and Saturday of the first week of May.

Dames and knights in medieval costumes sing serenades, walk through the alleyways of the town fully decorated with flowers, flags and beautifully illuminated by torchs at night.

In this peculiar frame, theatre shows, songs, choir concerts, dances, archery exhibitions, crossbowmen and flagwavers participate to the huge challenge betwwen the two medieval districts : Parte de Sopra and Parte de Sotto.

The celebration started in year 1927, when choisters of different town churches useds to meet to sing serenades, getting the inspiration from the past.

Interrupted during the second world war, restarted again in 1947 and the style of performing and challenging never changed ever since. The town is devided in the two sections of Parte de Sopra and Parte de Sotto who challenge each other to win the “Palio” ( trophy ).This division recalls the conflicts to gain the power on the town between the two sections during Middle Age.

Today the competiotion is based on the challenges between the best choirs, costumes, scenery and medieval representations.

The work for this event starts a few month earlier with the creation, researches and documentations from the archievs and libraries to reconstruct the “Assisian Middle Age “.
Infact for three days everything goes back to Middle Age and everything, alleyways, shops, garages, are transformed in the way they could look at that time.

Music accompanies every step of the Calendimaggio and the climax of it is the hymn, dedicated to Spring, sang  from every section in the main sqare of the town (piazza del Comune).