WTI Magazine #64    2015 July, 10
Author : folclore.it      Translation by:

The bridge competition is a reminiscent an event organized in two highlights: the historical parade and the battle. It takes place in the summer in Pisa, Tuscany, and it reflects an ancient and bloody game of the time of the maritime Republic of Pisa. Repeatedly suspended or modified, today it has been restored and adapted to our times, as a moment of historical re-enactment, by the Friends of the bridge competition. It is divided into two distinct parts: the historical procession along the Arno, and the Battle of the Ponte di Mezzo.

The parade, before the fight, it's a real military parade with over seven hundred participants, evocative and colorful with sixteenth-century Spanish style costumes and three distinct groups that parade: the Courts, neighborhood representatives divided into "Tramontana troops" and "Mezzogiorno troops"; the Judges; and then the drummers and various other characters. The procession parades along the banks of the Arno and it stops once it arrives at the bridge, Ponte di Mezzo, where everybody gets ready for the competition.

In the Battle teams give proof of their ability and especially of their physical strength: the scenic effect is important and compelling, the intensity of the effort by the players is strong, and we're talking about men chosen for their exceptionally great shape.

All the machinery with sliding carriages is prepared in the days before the race, in a crescendo of emotions waiting for the dispute.

The winner is the team that manages to push back, on the bridge, the trolley with the opponents, on the sliding rail, up to the opposite end of the bridge, remaining de facto owner of the bridge.