Sagra del Tordo

Neighborhood rivalries, men in tights and a weekend-long feast.

I Quattro Quartieri

“Un’altra cosa…” one more thing, we asked Elena, the former owner of our Montalcino house. “What quartiere do we belong to?

Voi ora siete del PIANELLO (colori bianco e blu, gemellata con l' ONDA del palio di Siena). La sede del quartiere è la chiesa di San Pietro con la struttura accanto, nella piazzetta dove abbiamo il garage. Potete partecipare a cene, feste ed eventi. 

You now belong to Pianello (colors white and blue, sister neighborhood to the Onda neighborhood of Siena’ Palio). The neighborhood headquarters is the Church of San Pietro and the adjacent building in the little piazza where our garage is located. You can participate in dinners, festivals and events.

If you superpose a large ‘X’ on a map of Montalcino, its two lines intersecting at Piazza del Popolo, you identify the town’s four neighborhoods: Pianello, Travaglio, Borghetto, and Ruga.

Each neighborhood has its own flag, colors, and local headquarters, and each is partnered with one of Siena’s neighborhoods, called contrade in Siena, a symbol of the strong allegiance between the two towns, Montalcino having served as a stronghold for the Sienese in the 13th century during Siena’s battle with the Medici of Florence due to its strategic hilltop location.

We knew we would be in Montalcino during the Sagra del Tordo, the city’s autumn festival, and we wanted to understand what neighborhood we belonged to.

La Sagra del Tordo

We arrived in Montalcino on the Friday of the weekend-long Sagra del Tordo, or Festival of the Thrush, eager to partake but unsure what to expect. Mauro, our Airbnb host, owns the local hardware store and helped put the pieces together.

The festival, a nod to the end of the fall hunting season in medieval times, was a way for the town to come together to celebrate the hunters' return and the spoil's bounty. It begins with a parade of townspeople dressed in 14th and 15th-century costumes, including the gonfaloniere who bears the town flag, the town crier responsible for spreading the news, the lords of the fortress, the feudal lord and lady, and their court of ladies and knights, and the participants from Borghetto, Pianello, Ruga, and Travaglio, representing the prominent families of the neighborhood.

Mauro told us that once the procession arrives at Piazza del Popolo, the town mayor draws names to determine which archers will compete in the torneo di tiro con l’arco, or archery tournament, held at Montalcino’s Fortezza. The names of three archers from each neighborhood are presented for consideration, and of the three, two names are drawn to compete.

“Have you ever participated in the competition?” we asked Mauro.

“No,” he replied, “I’m actually a member of the Italian national archery team, so I only participate in the festival as a spectator.

After the archery competition, there is a city-wide feast in the piazza near the Fortezza, each neighborhood setting up food stands with different offerings and plenty of Brunello. We asked if thrush, a songbird once used in sauces for pasta and polenta, would be on the menu. “No,” Mauro said, it’s actually a protected species now.

“You’ll know the parade is starting,” Mauro said, “when you hear the drums beating in Piazza Cavour.”

Ciao, we’re from Pianello

Eager to integrate, Stefano made it his mission to meet our neighbors from Pianello. We walked to the Church of San Pietro, where Elena said the Pianello headquarters was located. We ran into some people outside sporting Pianello t-shirts, sweatshirts, and scarves of the Pianello flag. We introduced ourselves and asked how it all worked. They told us to come to the Fortezza in the afternoon. Everyone would gather at the Pianello food stands. We could buy Pianello scarves there, eat, and meet our neighbors.

He said it was probably too late to sign up to participate in the Pianello neighborhood dinner that night but that we were welcome to stop by anyway in case there were a few open seats. We expected that and had made dinner reservations at a local restaurant. Participating in the neighborhood dinner would be amazing, but we didn’t want to show up and eat. We need to get to know our neighbors first and establish relationships.

Partaking in the Festivities

We wandered toward Piazza del Popolo shortly before noon. Crowds were just beginning to gather, and we found a spot on the parade route where we had a good view of the activities. Just as Mauro said, we soon heard the drums in the distance, marking the parade's arrival.

Men, women, and children dressed in tights and traditional costumes, complete with tights, quirky leather shoes, and Robin Hood-like hats passed by. There was singing and traditional dance and plenty of friendly but rowdy competitive chanting among members of the neighborhoods.

When the parade was finished and the archers’ names had been drawn, we joined the rest of the spectators and townspeople and walked up the hill to the food stands at the Fortezza. Each neighborhood had its stand and menu, marked by the neighborhood flag.

Pianello’s offerings included gnocchi and polenta with wild boar sauce or ragù made with local Chianina beef, spit-roasted quail, grilled kebabs made with Cinta Senese pork and sausage, chicken liver, porchetta and local savory crepes called migliaccioli. Other neighborhood stands offered pinci (a local pasta), fried porcini mushrooms, roasted chestnuts, and other local specialties.

The neighborhood booths also sold swag, so we bought Pianello scarves and draped them over our shoulders like we saw others doing. After standing in line to order our food, we picked up a bottle of Brunello, found some space at a picnic table, and sat down with our fellow Pianello to eat and chat.

Taking our cue from the locals, we wore our scarves the entire weekend, and they proved to be a gateway to fellowship and goodwill. “Siete di Pianello? Are you from Pianello? we were asked over and over again as we made connections and established friendships over good food and even better wine.