THE PALIO OF ASTI
Sunday, September 19th, 2010

According to the historian Ogerio Alfieri, ancestor of the more famous Count Vittorio, in the Year of the Lord 1280, the city of Asti “...was bursting with riches, enclosed within solid walls erected recently, and consisted almost entirely of buildings: towers, palaces and houses, all of recent construction...” In his accurate, detailed description, Ogerio stresses the good qualities of the people of Asti, stating that they are “…wise and noble, rich and powerful...” and says that in case of need the city can count on “...a cavalry of six hundred men with two horses each...” while the surrounding countryside can supply “...an additional cavalry of one hundred and sixty men each with a horse or a mare...” It was at about this time that the Palio was first held in Asti. The first mention of the race goes back to the year 1275 when, according to Guglielmo Ventura, another local historian, his townsmen ran a horse race for their own amusement, beneath the walls of the enemy city of Alba, causing heavy damage and devastation to the vineyards.

Today, the city still preserves a structure that bears witness to the greatness of its past, with the towers and bulwarks of its medieval palaces and the characteristics streets of its historical centre that provide an appropriate setting for the fascinating historical revival of the Palio. There are twenty-one contenders in the race and, in the weeks that precede it, they all do their utmost to propitiate the victory by holding huge banquets, enacting magic rituals, playing terrible pranks on their adversaries, right up until the big day when they meet on the field, preceded by a sumptuous parade of over twelve hundred persons in medieval costume.

After a difficult challenge requiring all their skill, passion and courage, only one of them will win possession of the crimson banner with the coat of arms of the city and the image of its Patron Saint. In the days preceding the race, visitors may enjoy many collateral and preparatory events: the Palio of the Flag-wavers, the colourful flea-market, the trials of owner-jockeys on the field. Opportunities not to be missed for those who really want to immerse themselves in the special atmosphere of this event.But Asti is more than just its Palio: the interested visitor can discover museums and monuments, antique shops and flea markets, embattled towers and mysterious courtyards. Walking from east to west on Corso Alfieri, the ancient main street, it is impossible not to notice an imposing, elegant palace in Baroque style: the home of the Alfieri counts, from whom Vittorio descended (b. Asti, 1749, d. Florence, 1803), the great tragedian and free spirit, famous for his works as well as for his love of horses. Asti is as famous for its wines as it is for its fine food: heavenly white truffles, agnolotti accompanied by Barbera, rich boiled meats enhanced by “bagnetti”, and especially “bagna caôda”, a rich sauce with anchovies, garlic and oil in which to dip vegetables of the Tanaro. Plus there's “bönet”, a sort of chocolate pudding, fragrant almond cookies soaked in a goblet of Asti Spumante, and all the typical recipes of a city in which fine food and wine go hand in hand with centuries of history.

RIONE SAN PAOLO
The Rione San Paolo rises and expands him around the homonym Church and the first news of this building he goes up again to 1292. The same Church is qualified as Parish in a 1381 document, in which the priest of San Paolo is quoted with the title of "rector ecclesiae Sancti Pauli". It is born so the Rione San Paolo, one of the most ancient and wide Rione that formed in the Medioevo the nucleus of the city. Between the XIV and the XVIII century, the Rione was really a small "city in the city", with its government, its army, its police and his own autonomous fiscal structure. From Five hundred in then the mobilization borghigiana happened in simpler form, with the casual formation of handpieces coordinated by the Heads of arme, that could reach the number of fifteen, as during the war against the Monferrato to the beginnings of Six hundred. In time of peace the Captain and the ministralis had to organize the Custody of the Rione leaving again the turns of watch and overseeing among the resident population. The Custody had besides the assignment to garrison a part of the territory extraurban: the Rione patrolled the road from the boundaries up to the Tanaro, and from here up to door San Rocco. The "militia sanpaolina" congregated him to explained insignias and to the sound of the drum on the piazzetta that constituted a pò the heart of the Rione: I broaden out immediately it existing door San Paolo.