The Race for the Ring

Authors:   Harjot & Jaskaran Kauldhar and Lucrezia Fanelli.

In Narni, every year, there is a traditional festival where many people go to have fun and enjoy themselves. This festival began in 1371 and is centered around the race for the ring, where many knights from different neighborhoods of Narni (for example Santa Maria, Mezzule and Fraporta) race on horseback to get a ring which is hanging from a rope, using their spears. Every year on the day of  St. Giovenale, the knight who acquires the most rings with his spear takes their team to victory.

At night all the teams parade through the city, and finally the winning team celebrates and gets drunk. On this night, all over Narni, there are also bands of drummers who parade with flags in the squares.

This year, 2019, the winning team was Fraporta, which was declared winner after many, many years. Many Fraportani began to cry with joy and at night celebrated with fireworks.

We think this is a fantastic festival.

Every year, we attend the festival to watch the race with friends and go out together, but above all we go to cheer on our team!