This is celebrated every year on 25th April, the same day that Italy commemorates the country’s Liberation. If truth be told, however, the inspiration behind this national holiday has somewhat barbaric origins in that it harks back to a bloody feud that actually took place in the town of Panzano during the Middle Ages. The dark tale involves a contract killing, hitmen, an attack, the capture of those responsible and their subsequent sentencing to death. But don’t worry: nowadays we only mark this event to celebrate the arrival of spring in period costume. For one day only, the steep and charming Panzano in Chianti streets will be transformed into a festival zone for welcoming the so-called “stagion bona”: a Tuscan term that evokes spring, emergence from the winter cold and the opening of the doors to the summer. This pagan-like propitiation ritual expresses our longing for the sun, life and lightheartedness, its optimistic name an attempt, perhaps, to exorcise the festival’s sinister origins. Since we’re on the subject, let’s give you an idea of what these origins are and tell you a bit about the actual event that spurred the creation of this particular festival.
After all, you will soon be watching a re-enactment of the tale as you wait for the period costume parade to begin (with a fine wine or homemade dessert in hand, of course)… We are at the end of the ‘dark ages’: a young nobleman is murdered by a contract killer who has been hired by a rival family. Before long, however, the young man’s relatives exact their revenge. Quickly and in a state of extreme rage, they root out those responsible for the killing and bloodily decapitate them. During the commemoration, this final part will be a lot less gory and spectators will see a “democratised” version, where the hitman is brought into the town via a procession and tried for his crime. In the end it’s you, the audience, to decide his fate: should he be hanged or set free?(Portions of this article first appeared in "Toscana & Chianti News")
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