The Pugnaloni

The area of “modern” Acquapendente was settled first by Etruscans and then the Romans. We’re told that the name of the city, meaning “pending water”, stems from the presence of several small waterfalls forming the Paglia, a stream setting the boundary between Lazio and Tuscany. Although we searched high and low, and asked locals for help, we could not find any of the streams. No matter; we know of the town for its famous Festa dei Pugnaloni, held on the third Sunday of May each year.

This famous and unique festa dates back to 1166, under the rule of the notorious Federico Barbarossa, when according to local legend, two farmers witnessed the miracle of a flowering dry cherry tree. The farmers reported the miracle to other villagers, who considered it a good omen, and they all rose up with their pugnaloni to destroy the castle. The subsequent feast was a celebration of their freedom.

The ancient pugnaloni (literally, “large daggers”) were long sticks with prods, used originally to cause a horse to move while plowing. On this occasion, peasants celebrated what was to become an annual feast by parading behind the statue of the Madonna with their pugnaloni adorned with flowers to commemorate the weapons of battle against their ruler as well as the blossoming of the cherry tree.

These days, young artists of the town search the local woods and countryside for materials to create what are now known as pugnaloni for an annual competition. These are enormous mosaics produced on wood panels, with leaves that are cut and applied after a religious or socially significant design has been drawn on each one. Flowers are prepared the night before the parade and then applied on the following morning. The pugnaloni are carried in procession, judged and then a winner is announced.