San Martino in Pensilis, continued

Welcome sign

Our trips to Missanello, the home of Annette’s grandparents, and to San Martino in Pensilis, the home of Michael’s grandparents, have given us a lot to think about ... and something to rest up from. Many impressions of each of these towns have to be saved until later since there just isn’t time to reduce all the significant stuff to text and photos. But we will try for an additional blog regarding San Martino.

The sign that welcomes you to San Martino says that the town is known for its oil and its wine. This is not remarkable. Every town in Italy is well regarded for its oil and its wine, certainly by the townspeople who put up such signs. This is not to denigrate the local oil and wine, however; both are good. But oil and wine are always good in Italy.

Sign facing the street

La pampanella is a pork dish though we didn’t have a chance to try it while we were in San Martino. The pork chops are coated with chopped dried red sweet pepper, dried red hot pepper, and garlic and cooked in an oven. While the chops are cooking, vinegar is drizzled over the chops. When the chops are done, they are drizzled in olive oil and served. Seems like a simple dish and it is the trademark dish of the town. For a recipe see Ricetta Pampanella sammartinese - SECONDI - Corriere della Sera or, if your Italian is rusty, try the plus-or-minus translation at Google Translate.

This leaves the Citta della Carresse reference as an unknown on the sign welcoming people to San Martino. Another sign on the way into San Martino in Pensilis offers a pretty good hint regarding the meaning of La Carresse. The large poster on the main street at the edge of a public space shows chariots and horsemen, red and blue teams, and the official seal of the city. This is a race held each year on April 30 from a town called Campomarino near the Adriatic Sea about 12 kilometers to San Martino and the steps of the San Martino Duomo. We visited in early April and everyone encouraged us to stay until the end of the month to see the big race. As we thought about it, we noticed preparations for the big event going forward in various places in San Martino.

Arch and Duomo

The photo shows Annette looking up at an arch and a church a short distance beyond. The arch is the portal from the new town of San Martino (“new” means only 100 or 200 years old) into the old town and the Duomo or town cathedral and its bell tower just a short distance away. The old town is indeed old. Some of the buildings in the old town have been abandoned. The streets are very narrow and crowded. There are few services for residents in the old town. The new town has wider streets and there don’t appear to be any abandoned buildings.

The chariot race is between multiple teams (perhaps as many as three), each team has a chariot pulled by two oxen and horseman going ahead and following behind to offer encouragement and to fend off others. The race is not between neighborhoods as in other Italian towns; the race seems to be between families or collections of families. The chariots race up the main street of the town, turn to the right and go through the arch, and celebrate in front of the Duomo. 

I have a DVD of one year’s celebration of the race. The DVD is far too large to post so I’ve captured some still images. If you’d like, we’ll see the whole video when we get home.

The first still from the DVD is on the afternoon of April 29 when the ceremonies begin. Young people march, the clergy offer prayers, and the city officials talk of the pride of the town in the teams that will compete the next day.

Procession

The evening of April 29 is a huge party. Fireworks, people yelling and having fun, decorative lights over the street. Note the arch. The perspective is from inside the old town looking out.

Party in preparation for the race

On April 30 the race begins between a blue team and a red team. The course is long and soon the oxen will be tired.

The race begins

At least two times the teams make what a townsperson described to me as a “pit stop” to change teams of oxen. (English pops up in the oddest contexts here.) The tired animals are led away and a team members pull the cart ahead to a fresh set of oxen. Chaos erupts as the new team of animals react badly to the excitement. You have to see the video but imagine swarming people and huge, frightened oxen. 

Change teams of oxen; chaos ensues

The red team passes through the arch and stops in front of the Duomo. Triumph for the team in red!

Victory for the red team

I’m pretty sure that I don’t understand a lot of what’s going on with La Carresse. I was told that the oxen were specially bred for the race and that the horses were thoroughbreds. This sounds like there is a lot of money behind the contestants. On the other hand, the race has been going on for many, many years and it involves participants, oxen and horses, and skills, driving a team of oxen and horseback riding, that may have been very useful in the past. Of course, today the farmers in the area drive to town and around town on their tractors, not on their horses but the race might, in fact, be a celebration of the history of the area and its former way of life.