Pietro Pecco's video: Giostra dell Orso 2022 4K Short Version Pistoia Tuscany Italy Europe

The Giostra dell'Orso is a modern re-edition of the ancient Palio dei Berber which has been held in the city of Pistoia since the 13th century every July 25, the day dedicated to the patron saint of the city, Saint Jacopo. The veneration of the Pistoians for San Jacopo is traced back to the times of the Saracen raids and it seems that precisely because it was saved from a raid by his intercession, Pistoia elected him as protector in 866. In 1174 the work of San Jacopo was founded, in charge of the conservation of the chapel of San Jacopo and of organizing civil and religious events in honor of the saint. The ancient palio was so important and felt in the city that it was sometimes suppressed only for serious reasons (wars, epidemics, etc.). Generally the violence was suspended and Boccaccio describes the feast of 1348, the year of the plague. Even in 1464 the work of San Jacopo established that for no reason, even in a time of plague, it should be omitted to run the palio. The population also participated in a massive way but was excluded from the organization and management of the celebrations, reserved for noble and patrician families. A municipal resolution of 1514, taken for disputes on the "moves and shooting of the barbers", attests that the race ran from a milestone on Via Lucchese to the church of Santa Maria Cavaliera, located next to the town hall. It was therefore a straight path and probably measured about three kilometers. After the construction of the Medici bastion of Porta Lucchese the palio was disputed along the Via dello Spianato, the current Corso. In 1788 a palio was run, in circles, on the lawn of San Francesco. Over the years the rules and the route in which it was made have undergone many changes but the formula of the race remained until the outbreak of the First World War. In 1947 the tradition of the palio was resumed and changed its name in the current carousel of the bear, in honor of the heraldic animal represented in the city coat of arms (in Pistoia called "the micco"), and was repeated every year in the evocative setting of piazza del Duomo until 1957, the year in which it was again interrupted. The tradition of the carousel returns to appear in Pistoia in 1975 when the city committee and the 4 districts of the city decide to start running the horses again in Piazza del Duomo. The carousel of the bear, from that date, has always been disputed (except on two occasions) and has not undergone major changes except to move the race from afternoon to evening to make the knight competition more evocative. In 2014 by order of the mayor Samuele Bertinelli following the death of two horses it was decided to suspend the event for at least one year, which was resumed, after a citizen referendum on its maintenance, in 2016. The regulation has undergone heavy changes mostly consisting of the insertion of stringent speed limitations and the introduction of a minimum time per lap. Giostra dell'Orso 2022 Cervo Bianco 21 punti Leon d’Oro 19 punti Drago 18 punti Grifone 12 punti Speron d’Oro a Simone Gianni del Leon d’Oro